Working For Buddy Guy -Jimbo Mathus

i drove buddy on tour,2 times. Total gentleman....said he never rode a tourbus over 300 miles,he would rather fly. On 1 tour drive,it was close to 500 miles,he decided to ride,set up in the back lounge,with his box heater,and called me SMOOTH AS SILK when i dropped him at the hotel. Best compliment ever. THANKYOU MR. GUY!

Saw Buddy Guy in a small club in the late 80’s. He came on and said, “I sure got the blues today, and I’m here to tell you about it.” And went into his set. As Jimbo said, when I was 5 in 1967, my parents took me and my 2 older siblings to see Herman’s Hermits and The Who were opening on their first ever US tour. Destroyed their gear at the end of their set, along with any hope my parents had for their kids to have a normal life.

So glad you’re talking to Jimbo Mathus. He's one of the real flamekeepers of our generation (I'm in my mid fifties too). Well worth listening to, musically and otherwise.

Sweet Tea is how I found Jimbo. I was driving through Chicago and had XRT on the radio and heard this crazy music. I pulled over on the side of the interstate and hoped that the DJ would run down the songs and sure enough they did. Got home and got the record. Best modern blues record since the Muddy Waters records that Johnny Winter produced for Big Sky. Chased Jimbo down from the credits on Sweet Tea. Crazy music!

Back in the late 70's to early 90's, I worked for a local juke box company which serviced black bars, Bar-B-Que's, clubs, and house joints. One Friday, my boss handed me a box of records and sent me to a joint called the Ranch located on the outskirts of town. The Ranch was simply a shotgun shack next to a horse barn and coral, with a juke box and folding chairs scattered throughout. While changing out the 45's, I heard someone shout "Hey venderman, you like the blues don't you?" I responded "yeah' I love the blues." He came back "I knew you would. I have someone you'll want to meet" He called over a man from he other side of the room and said, "this is Buddy Guy." My mind was a total blank. I didn't have a clue who Buddy Guy was. After a short awkward silence, he said somewhat bewildered "Buddy has played with the Rolling Stones, Muddy Waters..." I blurted out "Yeah, I've heard of Muddy Waters." After another long awkward silence the guy, introduced as Buddy, finally said "They dont play my stuff on juke boxes. He doesn't know who I am", turned away and walked off. I'm not sure which of us 3 was the most embarrassed. I finished my work and left without saying another word. To stretch this thread even further, in the late 80's the brother of Norman Dolph purchased that same vending company. He was the first person to record and produce the Velvet Underground recording (known as the Norman Dolph Acetate) in 1966. Of course I didn't know who the Velvet Underground was either at the time.

I met Buddy Guy at the Val-Air Ballroom in Des Moines about 25 years ago. Hung out back stage with him before his show. Nice to me and I appreciated his time with me. I had him read a liner for my radio blues show. He was amused I asked for a second take, but he was a nice guy.

Why am I not surprised that you know Jimbo? This is *awesome*!

I was incredibly lucky to interview him for a little college music rag called Nadine, and this was just as Damn Right I Got The Blues came out, so he was really 'in a comeback.' I had seen him in Minneapolis the year before, randomly, and was just flabbergasted at what he did. As Jimbo says here, there was a fair bit of schtick, but he was playing a JCM 800 Marshall half stack and kind of hit the right spot between Dave Mustaine and Muddy Waters. Mind boggling show. He was extremely gracious in teh interview, even though I was some 19 year old college kid writing for a publication that probalby hadn't ever noticed anything about blues ever. But as Jimbo said, in many ways a shy, reserved guy offstage, but a gentleman through and through. I got comped tickets to his next show after New Haven, drove up there, and after the interview he said, 'Make sure you come by and say hellow backstage after the first set.' So I took my Gibson ES-Artist, an odd early 80's contraption that had some extra electronics in it but that was fundamentally a 335 without f-holes. Mine was black, wtih fancy binding on the body and neck, and I pulled it out of the case asking if he would autograph it and he said, right away, 'Damn there son, you got yourself a Lucille ther don't you?' Again, no airs at all, a really kind, friendly guy.

So great to meet Jimbo. He’s an American treasure!

Been waiting for someone to highlight Sweet Tea!! It’s the swampiest stinky heavy blues record I’ve ever heard. Listen to the producers use of the plate reverbs-it’s sick. SUPREME production. Buddy’s most urgent sounding record ever!

Thanks brother. Dig it. You're appreciated.

Great stories man!

Thank you for bringing this to us. Buddy is a force of nature. It's gonna hurt when we lose him.

Out of all the pickers I taught Jumbo Mathis how to play working man blue's. It was a weird gig . Memphis Missouri of all places. Good guy Clarksdale Mississippi

Jimbo rules & he's right. That album is AMAZING. Blew my hip buddies minds when it came out. It's the best.

A local DJ played the whole album of sweet tea which was rare and i stayed for the whole ride and was introduced to Buddy and love the weirdness and prog of that blues album.

Thanks much, Otis for all this insider info. Sweet Tea is a magnificent album! I'd been listening to Buddy for many years by then. I could tell that this album was really pushing it, but in a fabulous way. Really something diffrent that was just jammin'. I love this album so much. Also, I used to gang out at Legends for over ten years. Sometimes you could go chat with Buddy outside the club in a nuce summer day. One night he walked up to me, playing wild, and put his guitar in front of me while he us behind and put his fingers over mine and played for several minutes. He had been watching me play aur guitar prior to that, lol. What a great vibe in that club. Sometimes I'd go there by myself. Met all kinds of great musicians there who were all winderful to hang wuth. I even hugged Eric Clapton there. I have been living in California for nune years and iften miss my Chicago roots. Again, thx Otis, for this interesting stuff about Buddy. Fantastic album and intervuew here. Peace and love

Thanks for this gentlemen! Can't wait to head to the Virginia Theatre to see Buddy Guy in Champaign next week.

Jimbo rules and any hill country. Buddy and junior wells on hoodoo man blues album, an insane influence

Thank youth for sharing so many great stories concerning the music we enjoy ☮