''The Blues Giant'' (also known as ''Stone Crazy!'') is the fourth studio album by

Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray V ...

History

The 1970s was a very hard time for traditional blues musicians. Only one Buddy Guy studio album had been released in that decade (''

Hold That Plane! ''Hold That Plane!'' is the third studio album by blues guitarist Buddy Guy. It was recorded in November 1969, but not released by Vanguard Records until 1972. History Buddy Guy had no luck with the record companies. Although he had recorded ...

'' - recorded in 1969, released in 1972), until he and his band entered Concoret Studios in

Toulouse, France Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pari ...

for these sessions. Guy was pleased to record with French producer Didier Tricard. To release this album, Tricard founded a new label, which Guy named "Isabel" after his mother.

Recordings

On October 31, 1979, Guy and his band recorded 13 songs (for two different albums). One of them was this album, the other one was the

Junior Wells Junior Wells (born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr., December 9, 1934January 15, 1998) was an American singer, harmonica player, and recording artist. He is best known for his signature song "Messin' with the Kid" and his 1965 album ''Hoodoo Man Blues'' ...

album '' Pleading the Blues'' (Wells only played on the tracks for his album, but the band is the same on both albums). Guy's brother

Phil Phil may refer to: * Phil (given name), a shortened version of masculine and feminine names * Phill, a given name also spelled "Phil" * Phil, Kentucky, United States * ''Phil'' (film), a 2019 film * -phil-, a lexical fragment, used as a root te ...

played rhythm guitars, J. W. Williams played bass, Ray "Killer" Allison played drums. "Are You Losing Your Mind" is a version of Guy's earlier song "Stone Crazy", retitled due to copyright issues at the time.

Releases

Originally released on the French label Isabel in 1979 as ''The Blues Giant'' (in France and the U.K.), but with alternate covers. First released in the U.S. in 1981 by Alligator Records, (retitled ''Stone Crazy!''). Released in Brazil in 1988 (with an alternate cover). First released on CD in 1990 (in the U.S. by Alligator as ''Stone Crazy!''), in the UK by Isabel (as ''The Blues Giant''). Released on CD in France by Isabel in 2002 as ''Stone Crazy!'', but with an alternate cover to the U.S. release.

Track listing

All tracks written by Buddy Guy, except "Outskirts of Town" by

Casey Bill Weldon William "Casey Bill" Weldon (February 2, 1901 or December 10, 1909 – September 28, 1972) was an American country blues musician. Some details of Weldon's life are unconfirmed. According to some sources, he was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, an ...

and

Andy Razaf Andy Razaf (born Andriamanantena Paul Razafinkarefo; December 16, 1895 – February 3, 1973) was an American poet, composer and lyricist of such well-known songs as " Ain't Misbehavin'" and " Honeysuckle Rose". Biography Razaf was born in Washi ...

. # "I Smell a Rat" – 9:31 # "Are You Losing Your Mind" – 6:33 # "You've Been Gone Too Long" – 5:38 # "She's Out There Somewhere" – 4:26 # "

Outskirts of Town ''Outskirts of Town'' is the tenth studio album released by the American country music band Sawyer Brown, released in 1993 on Curb Records. The third and final album of their career to receive RIAA gold certification, it produced four hit singles o ...

" – 8:13 # "When I Left Home" – 8:20

Personnel

– lead guitar, vocals *

Phil Guy Phil Guy (April 28, 1940 – August 20, 2008) was an American blues guitarist. He was the younger brother of blues guitarist Buddy Guy. Phil and Buddy Guy were frequent collaborators and contribute both guitar and vocal performances on many o ...

– rhythm guitar *J.W. Williams – bass *Ray Allison – drums

References

{{Authority control 1979 albums Buddy Guy albums JSP Records albums Alligator Records albums