Sweet Tea (2LP)

Very few artists have attempted, or succeeded, in improving the standard template for classic blues records set some 50 years ago in the golden age of Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf.

On Sweet Tea, Buddy Guy looks to the same source for inspiration; seven of the nine songs here are written by Fat Possum's hill-country blues roster, including T-Model Ford and Junior Kimbrough. Working with producer Dennis Herring (Counting Crows, Jars of Clay) and a small collective of Mississippi-based musicians, Guy sings with a passion that can only come from the same source as the songs.

The noise generated in the studio through vintage amplifiers has a live and dangerous feel to it. The acoustic opener, "Done Got Old," does not prepare the listener for the colossal aural assault of "Baby, Please Don't Leave Me." Fading in on a percussion track, Guy's guitar hits its cat-strangling best and never looks back, while the voice sounds energized, vital, and wholly contemporary. Through the 12-minute "I Got to Try It, Girl" to the closing Guy composition "It's a Jungle Out There," Sweet Tea has all the hallmarks of a classic blues album, mixed with a twist of the new.

Grammy nominated Sweet Tea is now finally available on vinyl for the first time. This 2LP gatefold package includes an insert.