Buddy Guy

WHEELING — An architect of the blues, a craftsman of the building blocks that laid the foundation for today’s modern R&B, the multi-Grammy Award winning blues icon Buddy Guy is here to tell the masses that he “Ain’t Done With the Blues.”

The legendary bluesman takes the stage on Wednesday, July 16, at the Capitol Theatre in Wheeling during a stop on his Damn Right Encore Tour with special guest Taj Farrant. Show time is 7:30 p.m.

His new album “Ain’t Done with the Blues” is set to be released later this month via Silvertone/RCA Records on July 30 – his 89th birthday.

“This album is about where I’ve been, it’s about where I’m going and the people I learned everything from,” Buddy shares on the LP. “…Muddy, Wolf, Walter, Sonny Boy, BB, I could go on and on. Before they passed, they used to say, ‘Man, if you outlive me, just keep the blues alive,’ and I’m trying to keep that promise.

“Now, I can’t kick my leg up high as I used to or jump off the stage like I did in my ’20s and ’30s, but I’m going to give you everything I got as long as I got it.”

Fresh off of his surprise appearance in Ryan Coogler’s box office smash hit film “Sinners,” Buddy Guy’s new album follows his seventh No. 1 album “The Blues Don’t Lie.” Last year, the Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award winner announced his Damn Right Farewell Tour, where Buddy bid adieu to extensive touring.

But that didn’t mean the urge to perform ever left the legend’s bones, nor that more music wasn’t on the way.

“They don’t play blues on your radio anymore like they used to on the big AM/FM stations,” he said regarding his appearance in “Sinners” and decision to release another album. “So things like the movie, or performing out on the road or making a new record, it’s important because some young people might see it or hear it and say, ‘Oh, I got to know more about that.”‘

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee kicks off the lead up to his new album with the release of new single “How Blues Is That?’ featuring legendary Eagles’ guitarist Joe Walsh and co-written with Grammy Award winning producer/songwriter Tom Hambridge and Richard Fleming. Amid the track, Buddy’s leading bold and affirming vocals give recall to his life and journey, while fervently building in tandem with Rob McNelley’s slick electric guitar and growing tickles of Kevin McKendree’s piano chords.

“How Blues Is That?” is just one single off the 18-track project that will boast even more emotionally-charged music with even more bone-chilling hard earned lyrics and lessons that continue to garner critical recognition and praise.

Always a welcomed return to music, Buddy Guy won “Best Traditional Blues Album” at the 2019 Grammy Awards and was nominated again at the 2023 Grammy Awards. This followed his 2015 album “Born to Play Guitar,” which again debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Blues Album charts and won Best Blues Album at the 2016 Grammy Awards.

The recipient of the 2015 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Buddy Guy’s incredible career spans over 50 years with just as many albums released.

Career highlights include eight Grammy Awards, 38 Blues Music Awards (the most any artist has received), a Kennedy Center Honor, The NARM Chairman’s Award for Sustained Creative Achievement, Billboard Music Awards’ Century Award for distinguished artistic development, Presidential National Medal of Arts, and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to name a few.

At nearly 89 years young, Buddy Guy proves that it gets greater later as he continues to record, tour, and remind the world what icons are made of. A major influence on rock titans like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy was a pioneer of Chicago’s fabled West Side sound, and a living link to the city’s halcyon days of electric blues. He has been ranked by Rolling Stone Magazine as No. 23 in its 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

Get tickets to the show and more information at www.buddyguy.net or www.capitoltheatrewheeling.com.

Buddy Guy