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

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