When I Left Home

My Story

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When I Left Home

By: David Ritz, Buddy Guy

Narrated by: Mirron Willis

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About this listen

According to Eric Clapton, John Mayer, and the late Stevie Ray Vaughn, Buddy Guy is the greatest blues guitarist of all time. An enormous influence on these musicians as well as on Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck, he is the living embodiment of Chicago blues.

Guy’s epic story stands at the absolute nexus of modern blues. He came to Chicago from rural Louisiana in the fifties - the very moment when urban blues were electrifying our culture. He was a regular session player at Chess Records. Willie Dixon was his mentor. He was a sideman in the bands of Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. He and Junior Wells formed a band of their own. In the sixties, he became a recording star in his own right.

When I Left Home tells Guy’s picaresque story in his own words, those of a storyteller who remembers everything, including blues masters in their prime and the exploding, evolving culture of music that happened all around him.

Buddy Guy was born in 1936 in Lettsworth, Louisiana. He is considered among the best blues guitarists alive today. He lives in Chicago.

David RitzBuddy GuyMirron WillisBlackstone Audio, Inc.

Entertainment & Celebrities

Music

Celebrity

Musician

Guitar

Chicago

Louisiana

Entertainment & Celebrities Music Celebrity Musician Guitar Chicago Louisiana

Critic reviews

“Buddy has never failed to amaze me first as an artist and secondly as a beautiful guy…Long may he give us his gift.” (Keith Richards)

“Buddy Guy was to me what Elvis was for others…[He] is by far and without a doubt the best guitar player alive.” (Eric Clapton)

“Guy is a vibrant and hilarious storyteller. With a natural ease and honesty, he captures the spirit of the age, the culture of violence in the clubs, and the personalities of his colleagues...Highly recommended for any fan of Guy and those interested in the history of blues music.” ( Library Journal)

Most relevant

The bluesplayer's bluesplayer, Buddy Guy is often sited by many of the blues-rock hierarchy as a major influence their paying and style and Clapton even called him the greatest guitar player ever. Praise indeed. I guess many may be familiar with his musical achievements and eventual and much deserved recognition, the accolades and hopefully eventual financial reward in his later years, but listening to his story, you get to hear what an amazing journey he has been on. Name almost any famous bluesplayer, past or present and Buddy has worked with them all. I wasn't hopeful of this book, but once I started out listening I just didn't want to stop. It's an amazingly frank and colourful rendition of the major events in Buddy's life and if anybody deserves fame, Buddy has surely earned it. Buddy and BB are the last of the truly great American bluesmen and lives like theirs and the pathway Buddy took from the cotton fields in Louisiana to the blues clubs of Chicago probably won't ever be repeated. If you've got any interest in the blues, or blues-rock then this book gives an amazing insight to that side of the American music industry from the late 50's onwards. If you're a fan Buddy's you'll get an insight of how many of his famous tracks were cut, and time after time I found myself pausing the book to go and listen to the music before returning to the audio book. I was a tad disappointed it wasn't narrated by Buddy himself, but Mirron Willis actually does a great job and captures the mood perfectly. If there's any downside, it's that I was lefty wanting more. There a quite a few leaps in time during the book, and sometimes I though perhaps I'd got an abridged version; I wanted more detail. I'd liked to have heard a bit more about his family and relationships but these are glossed over in brevity, but in other respects the book is incredibly bare-faced and honest. If you have any interest in the blues or just want to know about one of the last great bluesplayers, then this