Chicago Blues icon Buddy Guy wrapping up annual residency at Legends club​on January 30, 2025 at 4:47 am

CHICAGO (WLS) — Buddy Guy wraps up his annual residency shows at his Legends club in the South Loop this weekend.

Audiences still have time to see one of the greatest blues artists of all time.

The legend told ABC7 and his friend Hosea Sanders it was good to be off the road and back in his Sweet Home Chicago.

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A son of rural Louisiana, beckoned to Chicago by the sounds of howling, haunting blues, Guy would become the master of the music surging from his fingertips.

His fire burns bright each January on his home stage, but he’s a southern boy at heart!

“To be honest with you, when I first came in, I had never seen on this cold before,” Guy said. “My God, the birds got more sense then I got, they go south. I come here September 25th of 1957.”

Guy spoke about how it felt to be back on his home stage again.

“I ain’t afraid to bite my tongue about this, but my people don’t show up much no more,” Guy said. “And then when I come here, it was 99% Black people listening to Muddy [Waters], B.B. [King] and all of them, but now it’s 99% whites listening to Black people, or white people play the blues.”

The British Invasion came to Guy and they were familiar with his music and put him on a pedestal.

“The British picking up my licks, they kept telling people who I was,” Guy said. “That’s where it got me. Make a decent living now. I still play that old stuff that the average person don’t play no more. I don’t care where you go, ‘Hoochie Coochie Man,’ I have white kids, they heard of that, and they respond right quick to that.”

Guy has a message to share with his fans in Chicago and around the world.

“I promised all of the great blues players I would try to keep it alive,” Guy said. “Whenever I see a young person, I bring him here and see… can I help him try to keep the blues alive?”

Guy performs at Legends through Sunday. Reserved seating is sold out, but there are plenty of standing room tickets available.

Check buddyguy.com to check on what’s still available. Standing room is especially popular because Buddy always does his signature “crowd walk,” joining the fans in the club!