I first met Greg at 754 Wabash, or as many of you remember it, the original location of Buddy Guy’s Legends. I remember him starting off at the club working as a door guy, which struck me as odd, his father is the owner. Working the door at the club is hard, for every nice person, there’s some jackwagon who isn’t and that builds up over time, it becomes harder and harder to as Mr. Swazy put it, “Be nice.” Greg as long as I’ve known him has done. While I was skeptical of what I thought was him picking up the guitar to carry on his fathers legacy (which he had done years before I’d seen him), Greg put in work that no one was seeing to become a respected guitar player and entertainer, not in his fathers shadow, but an extension of it. While I was grateful for Greg as a person and friend, I became grateful for Greg as an artist—and I can not wait to see what he has next for us.
Aaron Porter: Was your father one of your musical choices growing up? Greg Guy: Later on after growing up. I didn’t know he was “Buddy Guy” but later on I found out that was him, and so yeah, once I found out.
AP: That seems to be a common theme through some families with famous parents, an article in our last issue, Howlin’ Wolf’s daughters didn’t know how famous their father really was. Do you remember how old you were when you first heard his music? How was it introduced to you? GG: Yeah, between 18 and 19 years old, I was down at the old Legends and I was just sitting there watching. He walked off the stage and took his guitar off and I actually ran away and was like, “Na.” That song was Damn Right I’ve Got the Blues.
AP: Was it his music or another artist that inspired you to play music? GG: I didn’t know he was a blues musician, so I was inspired by another guitarist (Prince), it wasn’t so much blues it was a rocky blues, R&B style stuff. Later on down the line when I got older I realized “Oh, Buddy Guy, come on then.”
AP: What about your late uncle? GG: Uncle Phil, oh man, you know, uncle Phil would always say, “Keep practicing, keep playing, don’t let anyone tell you; you can’t play.” So I never got to play with him and that’s what I miss the most, I would have loved to get up on stage and get to do something different than what I do with my dad, they had such different styles. Uncle Phil was a little more wild, might have gone crowd surfing with me if I asked him to. I didn’t get a chance to play with him, but he was good.
AP: When you were younger were you able to understand what your father was doing, or did anyone talk to you about what he was trying to accomplish? GG: I wasn’t aware of his lifestyle, I wasn’t even aware he was a musician, the only thing our mother told us when he was gone for a long period of time was “That’s what his job does, it takes him to different places.” Even though he’d travel, when he was home he’d hang out with us and do things. We also had a really close family circle that we’d see, my uncle, my grandma. There was a lot of love in our home. Did I miss my dad, sure, but I think some of that was not really knowing what he was doing.
AP: Was the guitar your first choice? GG: Oh yeah. Even before I found out who my dad was, the person that inspired me as far as music, I was always attracted to the guitar for some reason—maybe genetically (laughs) but I always liked the guitar though. I actually did start off as a drummer, I had a set of drums I’d play, a friend of mine let me borrow, but every time I played I was looking over at the guitar.
AP: Have you ever played one of your fathers guitars without him knowing? GG: Oh yeah, I was always afraid that he’d catch me so I’d go over and strum it with my finger, sometimes when the van would pull up I’d see it and I would grab the strings so they wouldn’t be strumming by the time he got inside. He never knew, or at least he never mentioned it. Like now, he says, “Don’t ever tell your kids what they should do, because if they don’t become successful at what you tell them to do they’ll point the finger at you. Now that is to say, my dad, despite what he did never pressured me to pick up the guitar. Once I did have a guitar and an amp, I took them out to the garage and plugged them all in and turned the sound all the way up until you could hear all the hissing to the point you could just blow on the strings and they’d vibrate. He just floated and popped up behind me and he asked me what I was doing. I told him, “I’m fixing to practice or rehearse.” and he said, “You know, you’ve got it loud, just imagine being out in the dessert you can hear whatever you want to.” For years I thought about what he said, then it hit me, you don’t have to be playing loud to be heard.
AP: At the time you were starting to get into music, were your siblings feeling the same pull? Did it hit you at the same time or did each of you get into it at different periods? GG: Soulfully, mentally and artfully it probably hit us all at the same time and we just didn’t come out and do it at the same time. Carlise was probably first—when I found out she was in the studio doing some recordings—I never asked her if I could go with her, but one day everyone had to work and they asked me to go to the studio to let Illinois Bell in to work on the telephones, so while I was there (GMH Studios) I was waiting on the guy and I was just messing with drum machines, tampin on the drums, messing with guitar pedals to get different effects. I actually recorded something on a Porter 7 or Porter 8 scan 8 track, and I still have that cassette tape at home man, it’s weird.
AP: What was your first guitar? GG: It was called a Bellaire; not a rectangle body but more of a diamond shaped body, pearl, it had a pretty white pearl color on it and back then when I’d be playing, I’d have no knowledge of it and someone who knew how to play would come up tell me yeah you’re going to be okay just keep playing it. Then they’d play it and it was just awesome on the guitar, then like a week later they came by and asked me if they could borrow it for a gig and that was the end of that guitar. I had a Korg processor for a guitar with removable sessions, it was nice and I remember this guy who was more into heavy metal, he lived across the street, we were making some noise and he came over and said he had a gig and wanted to use the pedal. Well that was that, and after the second guy there was no third guy.
AP: How does the saying go? If you lend someone $5 and you never see it again, it’s a small price to pay to be rid of someone. GG: You know, my dad says that if you want to be rid of someone, loan them some money.
AP: What guitar are you using now? GG: I’m using a Telecaster while I’m on tour with my dad, I can play a strat, I love the strat, I love the Telecaster. I’m using the Telecaster so much, there’s a guy named Dennis that used to come around Legends, and he would see me on stage in January. He said he had something for me, and one day he came down to Legends and asked me to come to the front counter. He just said, “This is yours.” and I was like what does he mean this is mine. He said, “You can have it, I had it done for you.” Little custom job with some leather, I was thinking it would be a field plated Telecaster. He said he wanted to see me play it in January, but he passed away before January came, so I leave it on the tour bus and make sure I play it every time I’m on tour with my dad. It sounds good too man—I think he’d appreciate it.
AP: One of the hardest things about working for Legends is the people we lose along the way. GG: There was a woman, Pam Pickens— who came here for January shows all thtime,
she’d come in now and then. She started crafting my jewelry, she passed away from Covid—she sent me a video talking to me just before passing. Her creative art form was crystals, but she got a dear antler and carved me a piece sign, down the middle it says Buddy Guy, the top said Jimi Hendrix, and the bottom said Prince. She gave me that, and when she passed her husband fulfilled one of her requests that her ashes be put into a little ball of jewelry crystal ball that she made for me. It’s beautiful, it sits in my living room at home. It was hard to say goodbye to her, she was a good friend.
AP: I remember Eric, it’s been sometime now…
Vikky Guy: Eric “Guitar” Davis?
AP: Yeah, I remember the first time I saw him at the old club, I thought, who is this guy, all flare and no finesse, but man did he grow into an artist that was so, so good, and in such a short time, you could tell he put so much work into becoming the artist he wanted to be. I have to admit feeling that way over the years, watching you gain more confidence and become a fantastic guitar player, which is one of the great things about working at Legends, for all we lose we gain so much too. GG: I hear it a lot though. I hear it a lot from different guitar players—man you’ve come a long way. That’s basically me lovin’ it, and not trying to be something I’m not. Ultimately, I hope to carry on the things my dad has put out there. Sometimes I like to hit my dad with some of his own moves, playing with my teeth and all that. One of these days I’m going to flip it (the guitar) over my head, rub it like that (mimics playing behind himself).
AP: Have you played with the towel? GG: Oh I can definitely do it, that’s what I was saying, that’s his thing-him, I can do it with him, and people like that—they’ll say, “Like father, like son.” On my own though, even before Marty passed away, he’d tell me to come over and play with him like my dad. I didn’t do it because it was something my dad did, I would do it for fun.
AP: I’ve noticed you don’t pander and I appreciate that, I’m sure the guests do too. VG: It’s partly out of respect for the person playing too, understanding that it’s their stage and gig and you’re a guest. GG: If he lets me though, I’ll be in there, “Someone done hoo-doo the hoo-doo man.” and point right at him. (We all laugh). Then he’ll go up to the microphone and he’d be smiling and tell everyone, “He messed me up with that one, I didn’t know he was going to sing.” Most of the time I go out there and say hello wherever we’re at, Wisconsin, New York, and then I back off and we just jam. Again, I will go up there and tease him, but it’s his show. It’s a lot of work man and I’m having fun watching him, just being there with him, being capable of doing what he’s done a number of years ago—he’s 87 and he’s still walking through the crowd.
VG: There was that time when you went around with him in the crowd.
GG: Oh yeah, I couldn’t keep up with him. I couldn’t keep up with him. This was my first time ever, once and once only he walked out in the crowd and I gambled and tried to walk with him and they’d be clearing people out of the way, but I had to run up to him to catch him at the front. He’s the same way at the airport man, I be looking for him and he’d be gone!
AP: I think, and I have no proof of this, but when I’m trying to photos of him during January, if he sees me, I think he messes with me and just like a lightning bolt is gone. (we all laugh) Do you remember the first show you played with your dad? GG: Oh yeah, well I wouldn’t say I played with him, I was up on stage but I was to nervous that I would mess up and he’d chastise me that say that I needed to practice some more, those are the words I didn’t want to hear from him so I made sure I knew how to do something when I was on stage with him. That was as the old Legends (754 S Wabash), that was the first time we had a picture on stage together, I don’t remember what year it was. He gave me the guitar and he asked me if I knew my keys, and I said yes, but I didn’t know what key they were in, he walked up to the guitar and said we in A, showin me exactly where to go to play there, so that was lesson 1. I did what ever little nervous thing I had done and people clapped. I got off stage and looked back like I saw my soul, like what did I do, what happened.
VG: It was years—from the time he was 18 that he tried to give him the guitar, if you look at the photos from a bunch of different photographers you’ll see Greg would just tell him that he was working. It was a few years before he finally did it.
AP: Did it feel like he knew something you didn’t? That he felt like you were ready?
GG: Yeah, I would play around everyone else but him, so they would tell him, “man he can play.” That’s why he kept doing it, because people kept telling him that. He told me, just play like you’re at home. I’ve heard him invite people up on stage who said they could play, no names but if they love it they’ll get it, I’m not putting anyone down but they wadn’t ready, and they’d come up but after he’d tell me, “I know not to call that person back up on stage until they know what they’re doing.” I said to him, “ I Hope I’m doin something right.”
AP: What’s something about traveling with your dad that was an unexpected joy and something that was more difficult than you’d thought it would be? GG: Being on the bus, people think that when you’re on tour and you come home for a few days, they always say, “I bet you’re out there having the time of your life.” You have to realize, my fun on the bus is seeing my dad get up on that bus at 2am or 3am saying you all get some rest because we got a show to do tomorrow. Then he and I are the first ones up on the bus, he comes to the front of the bus and I’m like, “Do you sleep back there, do you sleep on the back of the bus or no?” That’s what I’m loving to see this, because I’ve never seen it, I just knew he was out touring and he would do it. I myself thought it was joyful, joyful, joyful, joyful—oh nah it’s business. You get on the bus, sometimes you fly to the bus, the bus picks us up, we go to the hotel, check our bags, and then from the hotel we go to sound check, then it’s pretty much showtime. After that we got to load the bus up, go back to the hotel and pack our stuff because we’re going to leave at 2 or 3 in the morning. The gig may be over at 10:30 but we won’t make it back to the hotel until 12:30 and then yeah, we’re leaving in a few hours to go to the next gig.
AP: It sounds like you have to be really regimented in what you do. VG: Sometimes if there’s any delay in the travel, like Connor he won’t even get to go to the hotel, he’ll get off the bus and go directly to the venue. GG: We just did that in California, we didn’t get to do a sound check we just went straight from the airport to the venue and set up. There ended up being a few issues because of it. You work it out though. Like I said though, it’s just a joy to be on the bus with him and to see and hear him, the stories. It’s also a totally different show on the road than what he does at the club in January.
AP: So you’re getting to see and experience all of those things you didn’t get to know about as a kid. I can see how even though it’s work, that connection must be a joyous one. VG: One thing that’s hard is the food right? GG: Yeah, yeah—we don’t eat as well as we’d like on tour. One thing, Burger King don’t taste like Burger King everywhere, even if you tell them how you want it. Finding the right meal your happy with. You have to watch your diet on the bus also because you only get to go number 1 on the bus, they don’t let you do number 2.
AP: I was going to say, I can’t imagine someone bringing McDonalds on the bus, that smell, but I didn’t even consider the second part. GG: The point being is that it costs a lot to change it on the bus, if it’s just liquids, it’s not that bad, all thanks to Dave Matthews.
VG: Someone made a plaque and used zip ties to put it on the bridge where all that happened.
GG: What’d it say?
VG: It says this is the spot where Dave Matthews dumped (we all laugh)
GG: Yeah, that right there the incident alone made it so buses didn’t want to do that anymore.
AP: I guess that answers my question about how much of the cities you get to see when you travel. GG: Well it depends on where we’re at, like when we went to Vegas there was a lot to do, other venues all there is to do is look for Bigfoot or UFO’s because it’s just open land and trees, to get somewhere is 12 miles so we’re not doing that.
VG: Greg is getting a following because of his “Bigfoot Sightings” It started off as a joke but…
GG: We were in Dallas and I was with friends Jay and Tammy Latimer, I don’t know how it came up, but he mentioned a Bigfoot convention in Oklahoma. I don’t really believe in Bigfoot, but we went to the next venue and in they green room there was a cooler with a sticker of Bigfoot on it, but he’d fallen off. So I picked him up and asked if it belonged to anyone. They wanted to throw him out but since he was still sticky I decided to stick him on the bus window when we have trees around us—she posted it one time, and it just kind of took off to the point people were asking me when the next sighting for Bigfoot? We have a pretty good video of it too.
AP: You were recently in Brazil for the Best of Blues and Rock festival, how did that come about? GG: Being with my dad, but I found out—I didn’t know, I actually have fans in Brazil, but being on tour with my dad and he was going so he asked me if I was going. He goes out there and does his show, and then introduces me later on in the set by telling the crowd, when I was younger, I didn’t know who he was, and I only listened to Prince, and that I should be listening to Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf and his music, and he calls me to come out and he says, “Do you want to hear what he sound like now that he’s playing blues?” And the crowd just roars. I go out there and light them up. There was a guy there who saw me play and he wanted a guitar pick from me, I was trying to reach a pick out to him but he couldn’t get to them. There was a lot of people there but for some reason I really wanted him to get one. Afterward I went and grabbed a pick and brought it to him, he was very appreciative so much that he got on my instagram and asked me to come to his store.
VG: He had a gift for Greg, we were going to go to the mall, we invited our friends to go with us Donnie and Marie Schriemann from Kansas City, KS. He seemed like a decent guy through our communications, and since we had to grab a few other things from the mall we decided to head there. He owned a store, and he didn’t know but we brought some more picks and other merchandise. Raphael Zanetti and his wife now own a jewelry store (La Joias follow them IG @lojaodasaliancas)—well as the story goes, 10 years ago Buddy was playing and he wanted to see the show, but at the time he was struggling financially, his brother ended up going. This time he still didn’t have the money, but he ended up winning tickets from a radio show, and that’s how he ended up going.
AP: Did you end up going? I ask because, from an artist perspective, I feel engaging with individuals in person can often times inspire me a great deal. GG: We did, when we showed up to the store he was in tears, his wife couldn’t believe it too. I’m true to my word though, he ended up giving me a nice ring, he wanted to engrave it but asked me if I could wait a bit, his hands were trembling from happiness. Truly though the gift could have been anything, it didn’t have to be a ring, having someone care about you like that meant a lot. That was in Brazil, it’s a cool place—we have a friend who comes up in January, Marcelo Zaine, he was there he took us out to eat.
VG: The way they took care of us made us feel like we were home. They were so welcoming, everyone who was there actually, they always made us feel welcome. It was such a great experience that Greg would jump off stage and go and greet as many fans and people as he could. They all knew his name and many of them had been following him already. We even made friends with our taxi driver, and in turn he would actually wait for us when we were going somewhere, it gave us a level of comfort we didn’t expect.
AP: Did you hang out with the people from DanÇar Marketing at all while you were there?
GG: Yeah, we got to talk and sit down with Pedro, he’s a cool cat. We didn’t get to talk long, mostly because of how busy it gets right around show time with dad meeting people and signing things.
VG: Marcelo Zaine really laid out the red carpet for us, he did host us and he took care of us a majority of the time. He did a barbecue at this place—which turned into a jam session. I was like your neighbors get to hear a free show. Some of the Damn Right Band came by, it was awesome.
AP: Have you visited other countries with your father? How did they stack up to Brazil, was it a similar welcome? GG: Yeah, Canada—it was a little more straightforward, if given a choice I’d definitely go back to Brazil.
VG: Canada was receptive, it was really just such a quick couple of shows.
AP: Aside from the jam session bbq—did you get to do much else in Brazil? VG: Yeah, after the mall, we asked Raphel Zanetti where we should go eat. We told him we were going to go to the zoo, but he said not to because it’s sad. “The animals are sad.” (we laugh uncomfortably) So he gave us a recommendation, he and the cab driver (Sergio) speak in Portuguese to each other and he said go, bye and thank you. He takes us on an hour and some odd minute drive and we’re so far out now, “where are we going.” This was an adventure out of town into another place altogether. I’ll admit to some trepidation at that point (chuckles).
GG: This place was vintage man…
VG: Beautiful, up in the mountains they only do music on the weekends it’s established it back in 1979.
GG: They had a vineyard, brick, you think it’s going to fall apart but it’s perfect…
VG: It feels like you’re in Italy, somewhere far up and ancient. (Called As Véia Cozinha follow them on IG @ovelhaodemolicoes)
GG: The food was amazing. Amazing!
AP: Is there a particular venue or festival that you would say was your favorite? GG: I’m honesty, no man, I like so many of them, being out there with my dad and just playing. Playing out in California is real nice man, the wine vineyards and what not.
AP: We hear that there are blues fans down in Brazil, what was it like being on stage, what was their vibe like? GG: I guess I would go with, like my dad would say, you don’t have to be the best, just be the best till the best comes around. I just got out there and gave them what I got and tried to keep them happy, if they like it thumbs up. When I’m on stage my mind is completely open, I don’t think about this or that it’s just empty and open. I see the people out there and it’s like I’m getting their energy, and the more they’re getting into it the more I’m feeding on it. Sometimes they’ll be like, “You killed it on that Telly on stage tonight.” and I’ll sit there thinking, did I? I can’t remember what I’ve done.
VG: There were people who called out his name, he was really shocked by that. There wasn’t just one.
GG: There was this one lady too, she had a sign with my name, and I made sure they brought her down so we got a picture, she had one of my t-shirts and everything.
AP: Are you hoping to get back to The Best of Blues and Rock next year? GG: Oh yeah, please man yeah. I can’t wait, do we leave this Thursday? I can’t wait (we laugh). I’m definitely observing and picking up everything I can right now, because if it is as he says his last big tour, when he sits down, that’s when I want to start doing it, biting the strings on my guitar and let them know where I got it from and keeping it alive. I hear a story about as long as he lives he’s going to play the blues, and I need to carry that torch, know what I mean. I want to make sure everyone knows how much I appreciate the style and character my dad has done before me, others have done before him and I’ll do it too.
AP: You’re trying to get me choked up.
GG: Haha It’s all good.
AP: What’s something that brings a smile to your heart? GG: You know I can sit down and have a conversation with my dad, about how things were made and what he used to do get it compared to what we do today and I just look at him when he tells me and I make my joke all you gotta do if you want some water from the creek is get some green food coloring and that gets him laughing and that’s what I love to see. I like to see him smile, he has jokes, his sense of humor—I have a sense of humor like that, but his is a little more, he’s a bulls cat man.
AP: Anything else you want to mention?
GG: The Delmark thing?
VG: Yeah, Greg owns a business called the GeeHive Music LLC, we do indoor and outdoor audio work/production, and it was our third year doing that with them. So we did a festival back on August 26th (Delmark’s 3rd Annual Rockwell Stroll Blues & Jazz Festival). Continuing on the farewell tour with his dad.
Greg has some other studio projects he’s been working on with Billy Branch, another with Marty Sammon that Billy was on too. (More information at Gregguymusic.com or follow him on IG/FB @therealgregguy and @geehivemusic)