Buddy Guy

Attempts to revive veteran artists' careers via superstar duets are as predictable as claims that embattled bureaucrats resigned to spend more time with their families. Bring 'Em In, the new Buddy Guy offering, certainly fits the pattern, and it'll have plenty of competition. After all, Carlos Santana, among the bigger names contributing to Guy's platter, has a similar disc, All That I Am, set for a November release. But there's no question that Guy, who's in Colorado to guest on this week's e-town broadcast alongside Toshi Reagon, deserves attention. He's a blues-guitar innovator and impassioned, underrated vocalist who can still make a righteous noise despite being on the cusp of his seventieth birthday, as he proved in Minneapolis earlier this month when he opened for the Rolling Stones. Keith Richards, the Stones' guitar institution, returns the favor on Bring 'Em In, as do John Mayer, Tracy Chapman and the tandem of Robert Randolph and Anthony Hamilton, who help drag down a lame-lame-lame rendition of "Lay Lady Lay." Yet the album's highlights, including "Now You're Gone" and "What Kind of Woman Is This," feature Guy on his own, doing what he's done for decades. Predictability like that is welcome indeed.