Artist Buddy Guy

It would be overly reductive to claim that blues has been corrupted into oblivion, but it’s not much of a leap to observe that many blues greats are gone or on their last legs. That leaves seminal artists like Buddy Guy at the top of the blues food chain, serving as an all-important link between the breathless old and the electric new. Still amazing well into his 70s—2010’s autobiographical Living Proof was his fifth album of the decade, and one of his best in even longer—Guy continues to make exciting, visceral music even as many of his younger peers can barely muster a fitting tribute to their predecessors.

Updated 01/24/2012