Phil Guy jammed with Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead on a train across Canada, recorded dozens of his own records, embraced funk and soul in the 1970s, and helped build the rhythmic backbone of modern Chicago blues. Yet his obituary still led with the fact that he was Buddy Guy's little brother. This episode looks past the family tree to understand what Phil Guy, born in April 1940 in Lettsworth, Louisiana, actually built.

The conversation covers the decade he spent in Baton Rouge playing behind harmonica player Raful Neal while Buddy made his name in Chicago, his 1969 move north to join his brother's band, his 1970s work in a trio with Buddy and Junior Wells, the 1970 Festival Express tour, his solo albums including The Red Hot Blues of Phil Guy and Bad Luck Boy, his mentorship of Maurice John Vaughn in 1979, the 2006 collaboration He's ...