Sweet Tea

Buddy Guy

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 15, 2001)
• Original Release Date: May 15, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Jive
• ASIN: B00005CC2J
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (116 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #17,472 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #85 in

  Music > Blues > Chicago Blues

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

Very few artists have attempted--or succeeded in--improving the standard template for classic blues records set some 40 years ago in the golden age of Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. Perhaps R.L Burnside's recent heavily produced work on Fat Possum Records has come closest to adding an original slant.

On his new album, Buddy Guy looks to the same source for inspiration; seven of the nine songs here are written by Fat Possum's hill-country blues roster, including T-Model Ford and Junior Kimbrough. Working with producer Dennis Herring (Counting Crows, Jars of Clay) and a small collective of Mississippi-based musicians, Guy sings with a passion that can only come from the same source as the songs. The noise generated in the studio through vintage amplifiers has a live and dangerous feel to it. The acoustic opener, "Done Got Old," does not prepare the listener for the colossal aural assault of "Baby, Please Don't Leave Me." Fading in on a percussion track, Guy's guitar hits its cat-strangling best and never looks back, while the voice sounds energized, vital, and wholly contemporary. Through the 12-minute "I Got to Try It, Girl" to the closing Guy composition "It's a Jungle Out There," Sweet Tea has all the hallmarks of a classic blues album, mixed with a twist of the new. --Rob Stewart

Product Description

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: GUY,BUDDY
Title: SWEET TEA
Street Release Date: 05/15/2001
Domestic
Genre: BLUES

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice Cover CD!, May 29, 2001

By	deepbluereview "deepbluereview" (SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

"Sweet Tea" is fast being heralded as Buddy's best CD ever. For example, the liner notes proclaim that Buddy "may have made the album of his life".

There is no doubt that Buddy pours his heart and soul into this recording. However, no musician, with the possible exception of Linda Ronstadt, wants to have a cover CD credited as "the album of his life".

Unlike Buddy's earlier CD's, "Damn Right, I've Got The Blues", "Feels Like Rain" and "Slippin' In", which all contain several Guy originals, "Sweet Tea" is a tribute CD to several of the North Mississippi Hills musicians such as, the late Junior Kimbrough, Lowell Fulsom & T-Model Ford who record(ed) for Fat Possum records. In fact, all but two of the songs are covers of these men.

The dark, brooding, often hauting and hypnotic beat of the original tunes is left intact on this CD. However, what Buddy brings to the mix is his exceptional guitar solos that are otherwise absent on the originals. Make no mistake about it, Guy's playing on the CD is exceptional and is the best he has played in a long time. If you want to hear something a little different from Buddy Guy, this is your CD.

On the other hand, I think the impoverished and often over looked Mississippi Hills musicians should be given their due as well. So, if you like this CD I would urge you to strongly consider RL Burnside's "Wish I Were In Heaven", Junior Kimbrough's "All Night Long", T-Model Ford's "She Ain't None of Your'n, Jessie Mae Hemphill's "Feelin Good" or Robert Belfour's "What's Wrong With You" all are excellent, recent CD's worth a listen.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sometimes you CAN go home again, May 15, 2001

By	Badzilla (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

Usually I find the phrase "contemporary blues" synonymous with "Stevie Ray clone shredding over same old twelve bar". Or even more to the point, "[stinks]". The few rare gems that come along and are truly worthy of the name "Blues" usually have the name "Fat Possum" associated with it. While this doesn't bear the Fat Possum logo, it does contain songs written by some of the labels finest artists, including Junior Kimbrough, Cedell Davis, Robert Cage, and T-Model Ford. It was recorded in North Mississippi and it seems the time away from Chicago proved invaluable. Recent releases by Buddy have ranged from "just OK" to lackluster. With his location change he seems to be revitalized, playing and singing with a passion he hasn't displayed as well since his early Chess work. He seems completely at home singing these songs, almost as if he never even left the south. Fans of his guitar work won't be disappointed either. The vintage equipment used on this album lends his already impressive tone a rawer and warmer sound that compliments the trance-inducing drone of these hill country songs perfectly. A track by track analysis would be pointless. The simple fact is this album is phenomenal. Any fan of true blues will sit in amazement as this disc plays. It's hard to imagine that an album like this could be made in the year 2001. Sweet Tea is a blues umbilical cord, reaching back decades to bring us all a reminder of what the blues is, and should be, about.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 100% pure, raw, heavy string bending blues, April 26, 2005

By	GKG (Huntsville) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

After reading all of the reviews for this disc, I would like to add my two cents. If you are one of those types that believes that Eric Clapton is the father of the blues and that blues is supposed to sound like Sha Na Na, Bill Haley, or the Tonight Show Band, then this disc is probably not for you. If, however, you appreciate raw and unpolished integrity, then this disc is for you. This disc is blistering with the sweat and mood of a jukejoint on a hot, humid, summer evening. There is none of this teaming up with Bruce Springsteen or Elton John for a duet type of pollutional nonsense here. You can here some talking between songs and it sounds like they did all the recording live in the studio, which adds some good rawness to the songs. Buddy covers some JR Kimbrough songs on here and does an absolutley outstanding job. I love this disc because it is so heavy. I mean it's heavier than some of my heavy metal discs. When Buddy screams "Baby, please don't leave me," he's not just going through the motions, he means it. Personally, I think this is Buddy's best by far and I sincerely hope he continues to make more discs in this same style. Folks, this is the real deal here.