Happy Birthday, Buddy Guy! Listen to His 1968 Newport Folk Festival Performance
Photo by Joe Sia/Wolfgangs Music Features Buddy Guy
Buddy Guy, one of the all-time great guitarists and most influential Chicago blues musicians, was born on this day in 1936.
After growing up listening to Lightnin’ Hopkins and T-Bone Walker and moving to Chicago, Guy learned from the city’s great musicians like Muddy Waters, Guitar Slim and Otis Rush, before becoming one himself. Guy went on to influence future legends such as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck, and he’s been given countless prestigious awards like the Kennedy Center Honors and a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.
To celebrate Guy’s birthday, we’re sharing his 1968 Newport Folk Festival performance with fellow Chicagoan Junior Wells, who was a master harmonica player. The band also featured A.C. Reed on saxophone, Jack Myers on bass and Fred Below on drums. Their fiery set included highlights like “One Room Country Shack,” “Checkin’ On My Baby” and “Messin’ With The Kid.” They closed with an eight-minute fusion of T-Bone Walker’s “Stormy Monday” with James Brown’s “I Got You (I Feel Good).”
Listen to Buddy Guy’s 1968 Newport Folk performance from the Paste vault below.