Buddy Guy
Heavy Love (Silvertone)
As with his 1991 commercial breakthrough, “Damn Right, I’ve Got the Blues,” Chicago’s biggest living blues star hands out fun versions of two ultrafamiliar standards–this time, Louis Jordan’s ’40s jump standard “Saturday Night Fish Fry” and Willie Dixon’s ’50s South Side classic “I Just Want to Make Love to You.” To further capture the tourists’ attention, he collaborates with teen phenom Jonny Lang, who usually shrieks like Michael Bolton but subdues himself enough to make “Midnight Train” a strong duet. Then Guy moves on: His electric-guitar improvisations are explosive as always on “I Got a Problem” and “Need You Tonight,” but his emerging soul identity has become much more interesting than the jamming. The funky opening title track uses old-school electric piano to great effect, and the methodical finale, “Let Me Show You,” showcases the singer’s soft, tearful, underrated voice.
