When I Left Home

Kirkus, 2/15/12 "Tasty as a Buddy Guy guitar lick." Library Journal, 3/1/12 "Guy is a vibrant and hilarious storyteller. With a natural ease and honesty, he captures the spirit of the age, the culture of violence in the clubs, and the personalities of his colleagues...Highly recommended for any fan of Guy and those interested in the history of blues music." Publishers Weekly, 4/16/12 "As mesmerizing a storyteller as a guitarist, Guy, writing with Ritz, regales readers with tales of growing up picking cotton in rural Alabama, of seeing his first guitar and standing transfixed in front of Lightning Slim for several hours just memorizing the movements of Slim?s hands, of his father?s friend buying his first guitar for him, and of his endless efforts to play the blues as he had heard and seen Slim and others play...Guy?s memoir is a joyous celebration of the blues, one of our greatest musical treasures." Chicago Magazine, May 2012 "[A] must-read autobiography...What makes the breezy and revealing book special is its ability to bring history--Guy?s own, as well as that of Chicago blues--to life." Internet Review of Books, 4/6/12 "Buddy makes his life come alive...Told in his own style and language, the book reads more like a blues song than an actual book, each verse telling a different story. And what stories they are...Buddy's book is as colourful as the blues...If you're looking for a reasonably unvarnished account of the blues life, Buddy has it here...The book is funny, sad, tragic, lusty, honest, loving and insightful. Just like the blues. Just like Buddy Guy. If you love the blues and all that it means, you should love this book." Houston Press, 5/8/12 "In this memoir, the story of [Guy?s] life is also the tale of the music itself of the past 50-plus years...There?s a treasure trove of stories here." BluesPowR blog, 5/10/12 "When I Left Home covers an amazing amount of ground in its close to 300 pages...Relayed in a simple, conversational manner, the book does a terrific job of documenting the life of one of blues music's biggest living stars, making it a must-read for any fan of the blues...When I Left Home isn't, as the title indicates, just Buddy's story; in many respects, this is a story of the blues."

Buddy Guy was born in 1936 in Lettsworth, Louisiana. He is considered among the best blues guitarists alive today. He lives in Chicago. David Ritz is the coauthor of many bestselling autobiographies of musicians, including Ray Charles, Etta James, Scott Weiland, Grandmaster Flash, and more. He is the author of Divided Soul, the definitive biography of Marvin Gaye, and lives in Los Angeles.