CHICAGO — Music legend Buddy Guy will headline the 32nd Chicago Blues Fest this weekend. And, he says, you better see him and other blues acts while you still can.
Guy plays 8:05 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday at the Petrillo Music Shell. The Chicago guitarist is known for songs like "Stone Crazy" and for influencing musicians from Jimi Hendrix to Eric Clapton.
The fest runs from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday to Sunday in Grant Park. Admission is free. Click here for the entire lineup.
In a recent interview, Guy, 78, expressed concern about the future of blues music.
"It's failing to be heard and exposed on radio anymore," Guy told Examiner.com. "If you don't have satellite radio, you don't hardly hear blues any more."
Guy said he remembers listening to AM radio years ago "and the disk jockeys would play a spiritual, Jazz, country and western, big band music.... and you could hear people like Muddy Waters and B.B. King."
"Now these big radio stations do not play that kind of music anymore. It worries me about the next generation because people like myself, and the 'Claptons' and 'Becks' heard the music of people like T-Bone Walker, and we kept the music alive. Since we just lost B.B. [King], I just might be the last one who is still traveling the world over, trying to keep this music alive," Guy said.
He said radio station programmers think hip-hop and rap artists create lyrics that resonate more with young people.
But when "I get to play some of these big outdoor places in the summer, I'll see kids, 12, 13 years old, and you'd be surprised at the look on their faces when I play a note that gets next to them. So, I'm praying that, one day, the blues will be played once in a while on these stations the kids listen to," said Guy.
Locally, blues music can be heard Monday nights at 9 p.m. on WXRT-93FM's Blues Breakers hosted by Tom Marker, and Thursdays at 10 p.m. on WDCB-90.9 FM. on Scott "Hambone" Hammer's show.
Buddy Guy's Legends, 700 S. Wabash Ave., presents live music daily.
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