Personnel includes: Buddy Guy (vocals, guitar); Jimbo Mathus (guitar); Bobby Whitlock (piano); Davey Faragher (bass); Spam, Sam Carr, Pete Thomas (drums); Craig Krampf (percussion).

Recorded at Sweet Tea Studios, Oxford, Mississippi. Includes liner notes by Andy Schwartz.

SWEET TEA was nominated for the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album.

Personnel: Buddy Guy (vocals, guitar); Jim Mathus (guitar); Bobby Whitlock (piano); Pete Thomas , Sam Carr (drums); Craig Krampf (percussion).

Audio Mixers: Chris Shepard; Clay Jones; Dennis Herring.

Recording information: Sweet Tea, Oxford MS.

Apparently somebody took the criticisms of Buddy Guy's late-'90s Silvertone recordings to heart. They were alternately criticized for being too similar to Damn Right I Got the Blues or, as 1998's Heavy Love, too blatant in its bid for a crossover rock audience. So, after a bit of a break, Guy returned in 2001 with Sweet Tea, an utter anomaly in his catalog. Recorded at the studio of the same name in deep Mississippi, this is a bold attempt to make a raw, pure blues album -- little reliance on familiar covers or bands, no crossover material, lots of extended jamming and spare production. That's not to say that it's without its gimmicks. In a sense, the very idea behind this record is a little gimmicky -- let's get Buddy back to the basics -- even if it's a welcome one, but that's not the problem. The problem is that the production is a bit too self-conscious in its stylized authenticity. There's too much separation, too much echo, a strangely hollow center -- it may sound rougher than nearly all contemporary blues albums, but it doesn't sound gritty, which it should. Despite this, Sweet Tea is still a welcome addition to

Buddy Guy's catalog because, even with its affected production, it basically works. Playing in such an unrestricted setting loosens Buddy up, not just letting him burn on guitar, but allows him to act his age without embarrassment (check the chilling acoustic opener, "Done Got Old"). This may not showcase the showman of the artist live, the way Damn Right did, but it does something equally noteworthy -- it illustrates that the master bluesman still can sound vital and can still surprise. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Over the years, blues guitar hero Buddy Guy has embraced everything from Chicago blues to R&B and pop balladry, always retaining his hardcore blues underpinning and fretboard wizardry as touchstones. While SWEET TEA represents a significant stylistic detour for Guy, it's a surprisingly familiar one. Seemingly inspired by the raw, electrified Mississippi blues of Fat Possum recording artists such as R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough, Guy presents one of the most impassioned, gritty albums of his career. A couple of musicians from the Fat Possum camp are on board to lend ballast, but the heart of the sound is the titanic fury of Guy's guitar.

The album opens with a low-key solo acoustic tune ("Done Got Old") in the manner of John Lee Hooker, but from there on it's no holds barred, as Guy delivers simple, slashing riffs and leads over pounding, primal rhythms in a Delta-meets-Chicago stew that's transcendently visceral. While blues-rockers like Led Zeppelin and Cream got rich by turbo-charging the riffs of vintage bluesmen like Guy, the guitar wizard turns the tables here by beating them at their own game. The pure, blazing, electric energy on these tracks makes the heaviest efforts of those bygone bands sound like Gerry & the Pacemakers. Kudos to Guy for making such a gutsy album so late in the game.

Rolling Stone (5/24/01, p.86) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...As stark, savage, and unsettling as Guy's classic work in the '60s....turning on the primoridial tensions between sex and death...Guy roams over this spooky terrain...wrenching notes from his guitar in fractured bursts and howling..."

Spin (9/01, pp.166,168) - 9 out of 10 - "...Guy rekindles his late-game magic by descending deeply and satisfyingly into the sempiternal mysteries of sex and death..."

CMJ (4/23/01, p.4) - "...Sounds less like a Fat Possum record and more like the first Led Zeppelin album. It's that heavy, and that sweet."

Down Beat (10/01, pp.61-2) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...His most satisfying album since the underrated STEPPIN' IN....unlike anything Guy has recorded before....It's refreshing to see that he still shows something new in the studio..."

Living Blues (7-8/01, p.45) - "...Works hair-raisingly well from start to finish..."

Mojo (Publisher) (7/01, p.112) - "...Guy may be 65 but he capers like prime lamb at the end of his 150-foot guitar lead..."