BUDDY GUY
Recorded live at Legends (the original club @ 754 S. Wabash)
Chicago, Illinois
January 28, 1999

Location: crowded pub, mics in camera bag & taper in ultra-paranoid mode (because
the security goons & were everywhere), perhaps 10' away from the noisy, buzzy amps

Microphones: Sound Professionals Premium Binaural mics (w/ battery box & bass roll-
off settings unknown/can't remember).

Capture Device: Sony MZ-R30 Minidisc

Transfer: Sony MDS-JE510 --> TOSlink/fiber optic output --> PC's SoundBlaster Z
digital input to 24-bit/48kHz WAV (using Audacity in real time) --> FLAC (Level 8).
Audacity used for fades but NO EQ, NO NR, NO CRAP. So salt 'n' pepper to taste.

Tape flip (or, more accurately, disc swap) occurs right after " " resulting
in a loss of approximately 20-30 seconds of Buddy introducing his band as these MD units
required 30 seconds to read/write the discs' TOC before being able to record more sound.

Total time: 104:43

01 WXRT's Frank E. Lee intro
02 Look On Yonder's Wall
03 Stormy Monday Blues
04 I Got A Problem
05 Five Long Years
06 Damn Right I Got The Blues
07 Strange Brew (fades in)
08 Boom Boom
09 Muddy Waters medley
10 Reconsider Baby (guest vocals by Scott Holt)
11 Feels Like Rain (guest vocals by my waitress) >
12 Use Me >
13 Ain't No Sunshine >
14 I Wanna Get Funky (guest guitar by Phil Guy)
15 Knock On Wood


Recorded by Roy Martin ---> https://etreedb.org/roymartin

In addition to being an incredible musician, Buddy Guy has managed/owned blues clubs in the
Chicago area for decades. His most famous club is Buddy Guy's Legends and, pre-Covid, Guy
maintained an annual residency of twenty-some performances every January. Tickets to these
Buddy shows at his original location (754 S. Wabash) were always a hot commodity due to limited
seating and Buddy's intense hometown following (including megafans who went to every show, every
January, every year). This show was on a Thursday; best I could do as the demand for Fri/Sat
tickets were often scalped at good profit. The local fans revere the guitarist (and I suspect
more than one not-so-secretly recorded Buddy's January residencies - hence, the gigantic security
goons were on the lookout for anyone taping).

If memory serves, this was a wintery night in the Windy City but the snow & it being a week night
didn't prevent the place from being packed. I arrived early and was sardined-in at a table as
everyone around me was running-up food 'n' drink bills via aggressive waitresses - while I'm
trying to maintain a low-profile with the recording gear. Performance-wise, Buddy begins hot,
the audience eating out of his hand (and from his kitchen) as he walked all over the joint
playing, even taking it outdoors to the snowy sidewalk, before returning to the stage - while
still soloing! A lengthy rendition of "Five Long Years" -- including the donation of a broken
guitar string to a pretty female audience member -- goes on forever, the title describing the song's
duration as much as the lyrics. Buddy then took a breather (giving me the opportunity to swap MDs),
talking about the tribute CDs he'd been asked to perform on, before starting a sweet rendition of
Cream's "Strange Brew." But, as luck would have it, I missed the first 15 seconds or so of the song.
Sorry, friends. I put a fade out/fade in here, to make it easier on the ears. Track 9 (the Muddy
Waters medley) is loosely based on "Hoochie Coochie Man" before drifting through various memorabilia
including "Love Her With A Feeling" & perhaps a bit of "Nineteen Years Old" before getting lost during
audience participation time. The show seems to drift-off into unchartered waters and fall apart by
"I Wanna Get Funky." Buddy invites opening act Carl Weathersby to join the stage. He knew better
and wouldn't take the bait. Brother Phil does join in at the end of the Albert King tune and Buddy
goes BOOM!, waking everyone back up with "Knock On Wood" which wraps the show up.

Being a huge fan of the blues, I felt sad listening to Buddy speaking of the legendary John Lee Hooker
as a potential club performer. Hook's been gone nearly two decades as of this writing as well as
Phil Guy (d. 2008) and Killer Ray Allison (d. 2016) who are playing in this show.

I hope you enjoy the recording and, as always, support the art form & the artists! They are:

Buddy Guy - guitar
Scott Holt - guitar
Orlando Wright - bass
Tommy Z (?) - keyboards
Ray Killer Allison - drums
Phil Guy - guitar on Trk 14 onward