Sweet Tea cover

Sweet Tea

Released

Buddy Guy is one of the best-known players of Chicago electric blues, but he frequently stretches out and makes unexpected choices on record. On 2001’s Sweet Tea, he turns his attention to the music coming out of Mississippi’s hill country in the mid ’90s thanks to the efforts of Fat Possum Records. Four of the album’s nine tracks (“Done Got Old,” “Baby Please Don’t Leave Me,” “Stay All Night” and “I Gotta Try You Girl”) are by Junior Kimbrough, while others are by T-Model Ford, Cedell Davis, and Robert Cage. Guy adapts his guitar style to this slow-burning, one-chord sound, eschewing his usual fireworks in favor of searing, sustained single notes on “Baby Please Don’t Leave Me,” and he lets the groove roll — “I Gotta Try You Girl” might be the longest song in his catalog at a stunning 12:09. This is a grimy, primitive album that’ll make you feel like you’re sitting in a grimy, barely-lit juke joint, drinking clear alcohol bought from the guy who made it.

Phil Freeman

Recommended by

Suggestions
On the Verge cover

On the Verge

The Fabulous Thunderbirds
Cypress Grove cover

Cypress Grove

Jimmy "Duck" Holmes
Don’t Turn Me from Your Door: John Lee Hooker Sings His Blues cover

Don’t Turn Me from Your Door: John Lee Hooker Sings His Blues

John Lee Hooker
Smokestack Lightning: The Complete Chess Masters 1951-1960 cover

Smokestack Lightning: The Complete Chess Masters 1951-1960

Howlin' Wolf
Dynamite! The Unsung King of the Blues cover

Dynamite! The Unsung King of the Blues

Tampa Red
The High Cost of Low Living cover

The High Cost of Low Living

Dennis Gruenling, Nick Moss
The Ice Queen cover

The Ice Queen

Sue Foley
Bo Diddley cover

Bo Diddley

Bo Diddley
Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm cover

Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm

Robert Cray, Hi Rhythm
Hard Again cover

Hard Again

Muddy Waters
Born Under a Bad Sign cover

Born Under a Bad Sign

Albert King
Bonnie Raitt cover

Bonnie Raitt

Bonnie Raitt