The Rolling Stones slept in a van to see their idol Buddy Guy perform.
The legendary rock’n’roll band named themselves after Muddy Waters’ 1950s blues classic ‘Rollin’ Stone’, and incorporated blues into their signature style, and Sir Mick Jagger was annoyed that some people had no idea who the black artists that they took inspiration from were.
Buddy told Guitar Player magazine: “America wasn’t ready for Muddy, B.B. or anybody until the British had to come and tell White America who B.B. King and Muddy Waters were. There was an American television show called ‘Shindig!’ and they were trying to get the Rolling Stones. And Mick Jagger said, ‘I’ll do it if you let me bring on Muddy Waters.’ White America said, ‘Who the hell is that?’ and he got offended. He said, ‘We named ourselves after his most famous record!’
Buddy, 86, who is retiring from the road, thought the Stones played better than him, and was surprised when Mick told him they camped in their van so they could catch him live.
He added: “After I became friends with them, they told me they’d slept in a van to watch me play. I said, ‘Man, y’all play better than me,’ and they’re like, ‘No! We got it all from you! We didn’t know it was possible to play the blues with a Strat until we saw you.'”
The Chicago blues pioneer – who was Muddy’s session guitarist – influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck, Gary Clark Jr. and John Mayer.