Just seen Buddy Whittington and Aynsley Lister!

[Twinfan]

Aynsley was good but Buddy smoked him   8)

Imagine a cross between Billy Gibbons and Stevie Ray Vaughan, that's Buddy.  Completely effortless playing, a Strat and a 335 straight into a Dr Z MAZ-38 Senior quarter stack.  Fantastic.  I thought he was better than Bonamassa  :o

The encore version of Hideaway crossed with The Stumble was awesome!

If you like blues/rock and get the chance to see him, do it.  You'll love it.

[Matt77]

Now I wish I went.
I forgot about that gig

[Tellboy]

Yep agree - I first noticed him on the John Mayall 70th birthday concert. Great tone and playing - IMO much better than Clapton who also guested.

[Plexi Ken]

Buddy doesn't seem to have the profile that some other players achieve but he is a great player.
Always has amazing tone and plays tastefully.

[Twinfan]

He was superb, very heavily influenced by Willie G/SRV but in a great way.

[gingataff]

He's new to me but wow, he's great.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtnnORty7XQ&feature=related

[Philly Q]

I've seen him on some Mayall clips, including the 70th birthday show.  I thought he was really good but a bit restrained - presumably intentionally, because there were "big names" in the spotlight. 

Is he more fiery on his solo stuff?

[Twinfan]

Yeah, he's a cracking player.  Pinched harmonics a la Billy G etc.  A lot of tastefull playing to though - everything is in the appropriate context.  A great lesson in "less is more" both in terms of playing and gear.

[Afghan Dave]

I'd really like to know more about him...

Where do I start? What should I listen to first?

I love fiery blues..   :)

[Twinfan]

He's from Texas, Dave.  That's about all I know about him!

Here's my favourite track from last night - "Every Shut Eye Ain't Sleepin', Every Goodbye Ain't Gone" by Buddy himself.  This gig is the lineup we saw, and looks like it was taken very recently:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK_0QEsFzNo

Plus, some older footage with John Mayall with some great playing of Hideaway plus others:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8357JfNU_N4

[Philly Q]

I first heard of him when he replaced Coco Montoya in Mayall's band, must have been 15(?) years ago. 

They were talking of him very much as an SRV clone, but maybe that was a lazy description because he's from Texas.  From the little I've seen, it seems he's his own man, he's got that funky side going on!

[PhilKing]

I saw him at Hammersmith in 2004 with john Mayall and the band did a warm up number without john, which was great.  Mick Taylor guested but Buddy was much better.  I got his solo album earlier this year and it it pretty good, but I think I prefer him live. 

I love fiery blues..   :)

Pick up Chicken Shack - I'd rather go live.  They were the opening act and John Mayall was in the audience watching them - Stan was great.  The best part was when I met my mates at the pub before the gig and we were trying to decide what time we should leave.  This voice comes from the back of the pub and says 'Don't worry lads, I'll give you a shout when I'm leaving'.  It was Stan Webb himself, and he did exactly as he said he would, so we were in our seats as he came on.

[HTH AMPS]

I saw Buddy with John Mayall, err, god knows how many years back at the Riverside in Newcastle.  It was on the back of the album Mayall had out at the time with the song Ain't No Breakmen on it.  Great gig, great playing and they were setting-up/breaking-down the gear themselves - Mayall and Buddy came back out ten minutes after the gig had finished and started taking their rigs down.  I got my ticket signed and should still have it, somewhere - I seem to recall getting some plecs from Buddy too.

[Simon D]

I saw him on 28th November in Treorchy (Rhondda Valley, Wales!). Meant to mention him on here, but life got in the way :roll:

Anyhow, the gig was fantastic. I'd seen him play twice before - once with John Mayall and once on his own - but this last time was by far the best. The sound was excellent, and Buddy and his band were playing unbelievably well. He's a really nice guy - he stayed on the stage during the break, chatting with people about guitars and posing for pictures, and came out front after the gig too, which was when I had a chat with him.

A lot of tastefull playing to though - everything is in the appropriate context.  A great lesson in "less is more" both in terms of playing and gear.

That's a spot-on analysis of his playing TF - he's got awesome technique but doesn't overplay. He also chucks in the occasional country-type lick here and there, and he played some pretty nice slide at the show I saw too. He's waaaaaay more than an SRV clone. In some ways I was torn - didn't know whether to get home and practice relentlessly, or give up and sell all my gear!

Afghan, the best introduction, IMO, is his solo album http://www.amazon.co.uk/Buddy-Whittington/dp/B00153ZQGE Check it out - I doubt you'll be disappointed :-)