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Buddy Guy poses in front of the old Monger Store in his native Lettsworth. He is being honored this afternoon. Yesterday he was nominated for a Grammy award. (image from his website: https://www.buddyguy.net)

Lettsworth native and Blues Legend Buddy Guy honored this weekend

Blues Artist Gets Grammy Nod Friday and Historic Marker Unveiling Saturday

LETTSWORTH - Buddy Guy, iconic blues musician and Louisiana native was nominated today for a Grammy on his latest album titled “The Blues is Alive and Well.” This marks a very special weekend for the 82-year-old Guy, who resides in Chicago, as he returns to Pointe Coupee to join his family as he is honored with a historic marker that will be placed in his hometown of Lettsworth along the Mississippi Blues Trail on Saturday afternoon.

On Saturday, officials in Pointe Coupee Parish will read a proclamation declaring “Buddy Guy Day” at the marker unveiling. Representative Major Thibaut passed Act 445 during the 2018 Regular Session that designates Louisiana Highway in Lettsworth as Buddy Guy Way. (Lettsworth of course is across the river from Simmesport, which just renamed a portion of its main highway for its native son Joe Simon who is also a nationally famous musician.)

Guy has made his mark in American Roots music for over six decades to millions of fans around the world. According to Eric Clapton, John Mayer and the late Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy is the greatest blues guitarist of all time. This weekend, the Louisiana native lives out a lifelong dream when a historic marker will be placed along the Mississippi Blues Trail in his hometown of Lettsworth.

Guy’s eighteenth solo studio album, “The Blues is Alive and Well”, has earned high praise from critics and music fans alike as one of the best records released this year. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee (2005) collaborated with Jeff Beck, Keith Richards, and Mick Jagger on several tunes.

Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser said, “I can’t think of a better way to add to what is already a very special weekend for Buddy Guy. He is coming home to be with be with his family in Pointe Coupee Parish this weekend for “Buddy Guy Day” and to be named a “Louisiana Ambassador” and now he receives this Grammy nomination on the eve of that special day.”

Lt. Nungesser added, “And Buddy is not the only Louisiana artist being nominated for a Grammy today. I am so proud of Louisiana-native musicians like Lauren Daigle, Jon Batiste, Sean Ardoin; the list goes on and on. They represent what is great about our state and is one of the many ways how Louisiana feeds your soul to others around the world.”

Buddy Guy joins a group of other Louisiana musicians to be nominated including, Lafayette’s Lauren Daigle (Best Contemporary Christian Music Album and Best Contemporary Christian Music Song), New Orleans’ PJ Morton (Best R&B Album, Best R&B Performance and Best Traditional R&B Performance), Lake Charles’ Sean Ardoin (Best Regional Roots Music Album and Best American Roots Performance), New Orleans’ Mary Gauthier (Best Folk Album), New Orleans’ Cha Wa (Best Regional Roots Music Album), New Orleans' Jon Batiste (Best American Roots Performance), and Abbeville’s Koryn Hawthorne (Best Gospel Performance/Song). The 20-CD set “At The Louisiana Hayride Tonight” produced by German-based Bear Family Records was nominated for Best Historical Album.

Of note: In October, The Recording Academy and The Grammy Museum named saxophonist Mickey Smith Jr. as a semifinalist for the 2019 Music Educator Award. Smith is a teacher at Maplewood Middle School in Lake Charles.

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