Buddy Sings the Blues

It's January in Chicago, and you know what that means: wintry balls-out cold, of course. But it's also the month when Buddy Guy gives blues lessons. 

Every Thursday through Sunday, Buddy shreds the stage at his downtown club. He does it each January. Tickets sell out fast, because Buddy is the last real bluesman left, and at age 78, who knows how much longer he'll be bending strings (he bends his really, really hard, incidentally - just ask his guitar tech).

Chicago blues is its own genre, what happened when Delta axe-men like Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley and Howlin' Wolf plugged in their amps. Their sick licks and electric sound paved the way for rock 'n roll, influencing the Rolling Stones, among many others. Their Chicago story plays out at the old Chess Records site.

Buddy is the last link to the old timers. He was a session guitarist at Chess and backed Muddy and Howlin' Wolf. He might tell the story during his January residency, and you'll be close enough to hear it, since the room only holds 550 people. He might also mention how Leonard Chess slammed him as just making noise, or that pre-fame Eric Clapton used to sleep in a van to come see Guy play when he toured England.

So Chicago in January does have a hot spot. While you're in the minor-key groove, why swing by Muddy Waters' home? And later in 2015 road trip to St Louis for the opening of the new National Blues Museum. Buddy will certainly be there.

Has Chicago Lost its Blues Mojo?

"Sweet Home Chicago" ain't such a sweet home for preserving blues history. Which is a shame for a city that cashes in big on its long-running Blues Fest and bluesy clubs around town. Here are 3 seminal sites in jeopardy:

1. Muddy Waters' house - Last week, a big red "X" appeared on the brick two-flat at 4339 S Lake Park Ave, an early step in the demolition process. I wrote about Muddy's house - where legendary jam sessions broke out in the yard - a few years ago, when it was still in decent shape. Now the windows are boarded up and ominous yellow warning signs hang in front. Urbanist Lee Bey looks at whether everything gonna be alright in this article.

2. Chess Records Studio - While Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Bo Diddley and the Rolling Stones all plugged in at 2120 S Michigan Ave, this building also was on the chopping block until Willie Dixon's Blues Heaven Foundation bought it. (Dixon was the bassist who wrote most of Chess's hits.) Dixon's family opens the studio for tours most days, but it's ramshackle with few original artifacts on display. Still, when Willie's grandson hauls out the bluesman's standup bass and lets you take a pluck, it's pretty damn cool...

3. Blues Museum - Chicago has been trying to open a blues museum for years. The latest incarnation was in summer 2012, when the city floated the idea for a "Blues Experience" museum/nightclub downtown on State St. Cue the hemming and hawing. Meanwhile downriver, St Louis secured $6 million to build the National Blues Museum to launch in 2014.

Chicago needs to get its mojo workin', as in this live album when Waters and the Stones played the Checkerboard Lounge in 1981.