Featuring a foreword from blues and rock legend Eric Clapton

The man who shaped the sound of modern rock—a sharecropper’s son from Louisiana who became the musical North Star for generations of blues and rock stars and the ultimate torchbearer of the blues.

Buddy Guy is the living bridge between the Chicago blues and the global explosion of rock that followed. When Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and Little Walter ruled Chess Records, Buddy was there, absorbing and pushing the music forward. He would become the blues oracle to guitar greats like Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and countless others.

Drawing on years of research, interviews, and access to Buddy’s inner circle, biographer Sandra B. Tooze delivers the most complete portrait yet of this towering figure. From London in 1965—where his performances helped spark British rock—to Chicago clubs and global stages, Buddy redefined the electric blues and still performs in his late eighties.

Tooze captures Buddy’s struggles with racism and industry indifference, alongside his humor and commitment to mentoring younger musicians. And at the heart of the book is Buddy’s promise to Muddy Waters: the blues will not die on his watch.

An intimate biography and sweeping history of American music, Buddy Guy is the story of how the blues shaped rock and how one man became its greatest guardian.