Rhythm & Blues

Buddy Guy isn’t just an old-school bluesman; he’s an old-school showman. So if his albums seem a bit brighter and more conceptual than those by his contemporaries, it’s because Guy is every bit as much a goodwill ambassador to the music as he is a practitioner. This results in tracks that sizzle with a modern-era patina and guests such as Kid Rock, three-fifths of Aerosmith, Gary Clark Jr., Keith Urban, and Beth Hart. This 2013 issue is divided into two halves. The first is “Rhythm\"; the second is “Blues.” But that\'s more a statement of purpose than anything listeners need to concern themselves with. Fact is, these tracks rock harder and louder than ever. Whether this is a good thing rests with your devotion to the “pure” Chicago-styled blues of the \'50s and how much you enjoy hearing Steven Tyler going mouth to mouth on “Evil Twin.” (For the record, Tyler sounds more road-weary and worn than Guy!) “One Day Away” with Urban catches a sleek groove; it could bring Guy to commercial radio and to country fans, who\'d surely admire the man’s soul.

A great open secret of the last act of Buddy Guy's career is that nearly every album he's made in the new millennium is a concept album of sorts, ranging from the gnarled modern Delta blues of Sweet Tea and the acoustic Blues Singer to the pseudo-autobiography of 2010's Living Proof.

Buddy Guy's 50-plus-year career has been a testament to a simple premise: playing 12-bar blues as loudly and wildly as possible. It's made h...

The two-disc Rhythm & Blues would work if both halves of the album weren’t each encrusted with the same indistinguishable cheese.

Buddy Guy returns with another round of his patented blues-rock attack. CD review by Thomas H Green