Buddy Guy is a happy man. He turned 74 this year, and has been playing guitar professionally for 57 of those years.

His first guitar, a beat-up old Harmony acoustic, sits in a shrine in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He’s established himself as one of the major pioneers of the Chicago blues sound, and has performed with every great blues artist who’s lived during the years he’s been active. He’s also performed with nearly every major rock band from the ‘60s including Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Cream and Stephen Stills.

He’s influenced everyone from Eric Clapton to Stevie Ray Vaughan to Jeff Beck. He’s won five Grammys, 23 W.C. Handy Awards, and the National Medal of Arts. He’s been inducted into the Louisiana Hall of Fame and, in 2005, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

What Buddy Guy is so happy about, according to his latest album “Living Proof,” is that he’s still making records and playing music. “Living Proof” is an amazing document, so full of joy it’s hard to believe it’s the blues. But it is most definitely the blues, the kind that takes you by the kahunas and rocks your world.

Buddy opens with the proud “74 Years Young,” where he exclaims “I’m 74 years young/but I feel like I’m 21.” There is no doubt he loves his life, as the theme continues throughout the album with tunes like “Stay Around A Little Longer,” a duet with B.B. King, “Where the Blues Begins,” featuring an appearance by Carlos Santana, and tunes like “Thank Me Someday,” “On The Road,” “Let The Door Knob Hit Ya,” and the raging title cut, where he tells the story “You know that doctor/came to my home/said “you’re gonna die” /all alone/well, I’m still here/that doctor dead and gone/I’m living proof.”

Buddy Guy is living proof that one can keep getting better with age, and we’re as glad as he is that he’s still around making great music.

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