Buddy Guy & Junior Wells – Alone & Acoustic

This album has never been far from my heart or my player since it came out in 1991. It was early on in my serious blues dive of the ’90s that I found this on CD, probably at Records N Such at Stuyvesant Plaza, and was absolutely blown away by this intimate, incredibly eased performance by two absolute masters, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells. Recorded on a live tour in Paris in 1981, when released in 1991 it sold 100,000 copies, which is pretty huge for a blues record, and it was definitely part of the resurgence that Buddy experienced at the time.

Both Buddy and Junior sing, and their playing is just so relaxed and natural – these concerts must have been incredible to experience. This album captures a unique moment, and you can feel it on every song.

Most of the time, I’m not going to buy a vinyl copy of something I have on CD, even though nowadays nearly all my listening is on the turntable. But sometimes it comes down to the question, “Am I listening to this enough?” And without it on vinyl, I was not. So I bought this early in 2022, and now I am listening to it enough.

Word of advice for anyone wondering how to get into the blues: if you see a record on Alligator, buy it. It’s gonna be good.