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| ------------------------------------- BLUES NEWS with Marisa... ------------------------------------- |
|
We have Blues guitarist and singer Phil Guy has passed away on Wednesday, August 20th. He
was 68.
Guy was born in 1940, the fifth child and third son of sharecropping parents. He grew up
picking cotton and pecans on the Lettsworth, Louisiana, plantation, about 60 miles northwest
of Baton Rouge. When Phil was nine years old (and oldest brother Buddy Guy was 13) the
family acquired electricity in their home; besides the one light bulb, their daddy splurged on a
radio and an old phonograph. They were intrigued with the sounds of Muddy Waters, Jimmy
Reed, Little Walter, Howlin Wolf, and John Lee Hooker.
Buddy started with a homemade guitar, and later a Harmony f-hole guitar when he graduated
from the eighth grade. Phil was not allowed to touch it, but when Buddy moved to Baton
Rouge to attend high school, he left his old guitar behind. Left-handed, Phil attempted to play
it upside down and backward, but that didn't work for him, so he forced himself to play right-
handed. "I didn't know but one song, just a rhythm line of a Jimmy Reed song," he said years
later. The echo out on the levee captivated him, and he'd play that one line over and over.
When Phil was 15, Lightnin' Slim stopped by a club in nearby Torres with his amplified guitar.
Phil said, "Slim's amp was the size of a radio...Slim ended up staying for a week. It was Slim
who gave me my first chance to play an electric guitar."
Meanwhile, in Baton Rouge, Buddy had joined a band that performed in the local joints.
Buddy yearned to see his idols, so in 1957 at age 21 he moved to Chicago, telling the
bandleader, harp player Raful Neal, that his 17-year-old brother could play the Blues, and Phil
replaced Lazy Lester as rhythm guitarist. He served a long apprenticeship in that band until
Buddy summoned him to Chicago in 1969 to work with him in his bands. Phil was more into
funky songs by Jimmy Reed and James Brown, with a deep-picking and penetrating style like
Albert King, while Buddy's approach was Chicago style, with more showmanship and powerful
vocals, but when they jammed together, their styles complemented each other perfectly.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Guy family during this sad time.
Updated: 08/20/08
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