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THE BITS INTERVIEW: BUDDY WHITTINGTON

Buddy Whittington is one of the world’s great guitar players. Born and
raised in and around Fort Worth, Texas, Buddy claimed his place in the

guitar stratosphere when he was chosen by John Mayall to join the
Bluesbreakers and stayed for 15 years.

Since that time, back in Texas, Buddy has continued to play virtuoso

performances in gigs and on record, including making a couple of tours
in the UK. With his band, Buddy recorded three albums as well as

working with local band Dr Wu as part of the ‘Texas Blues Project’.

In a bizarre tale, Buddy got together, thirteen years ago, with Dallas

axeman Jim Suhler and they recorded, in New Jersey, an album that for
many reasons, has only just been published. The album has become the

stuff of legend (see review in this edition of BiTS) and Ian McKenzie
spoke to Buddy on the telephone to find out more.

BiTS: Hello, Buddy. Good morning to you.

BW: Yeah, good afternoon to you. You doing okay?

BiTS: How are you doing?

BW: Oh, can't complain.

BiTS: Are you getting back into the swing of things after
COVID is over?

BW: Well, I'm
hoping to. The gigs
are picking up a little bit
and we're just playing pretty
much locally these days and just
trying to stay with it a while.

BiTS: Were you hit very badly? Did you
get a lot of gigs that were cancelled?

BW: Yeah, I mean, I had a full
calendar. I wasn't doing any touring. I
guess the last time I was in England

was ‘17. I was over there opening for
John Mayall, which might have been his
last tour. I was opening for him and playing with
him a little bit. Then the COVID hit and that slowed
everything down to nearly a crawl or a complete
stop and I had a bunch of like local city-funded
gigs that were on the calendar and I kept