1 Min ReadBy Elizabeth Nelson
Strat Sessions: Buddy Guy Featuring Christone “Kingfish” Ingram
Celebrate the Year of the Strat with two generations of blues legends and watch them play a Muddy Waters classic on Fender’s iconic electric.
A blues legend meets up with the next in line. When Buddy Guy and Christone "Kingfish" Ingram faced off recently, it was in the long tradition of the symbiotic relationship between the deep blues and the Stratocaster.
Buddy Guy is 87 years old and has played alongside everyone from Rahsaan Roland Kirk to Jeff Beck to Stephen Stills. Kingfish was born in 1999, but marinates in that same tradition. Ripping their way through a genially ribald take on Muddy Waters' "Hoochie Coochie Man" is like watching history unfold before your eyes. The thrill of generations jamming together. They are two of the all-time Strat Cats.
When asked, “Why the Strat?” Buddy Guy responds that his experience watching the transformational icon Guitar Slim tear up a room with a Stratocaster was enough to make him a disciple forever.
Kingfish was similarly drawn to Fender’s groundbreaking electric by seeing his heroes in action, getting a screaming tone from the instrument. He wanted to achieve the same thing when he played. Now as an accomplished blues phenom in his own right, the Strat is integral to his craft. “For me,” he says, “it’s definitely part of the arsenal whenever I need it.”
As we honor the 70th anniversary of the Stratocaster, the tradition remains as important and historic as ever. Everyone from Guitar Slim to Buddy Guy to Kingfish has relied upon the Strat’s contoured body, triple pickup configuration, easy playability and inimitable style to take their music to transcendent heights. And we expect that the next generation of great blues players will find inspiration in this daring and rebellious guitar as well.
Buddy Guy explains the Stratocaster’s longevity best, saying, “You can beat it, you can scratch it, but you can’t stop it from playing.” And he’s right. It hasn’t stopped for seven decades and shows no sign of quitting.
Celebrate 70 years of the Strat with Buddy Guy and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram laying it down in Chicago, home of the electric blues.
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