A 20-year-old Mississippi musician recently got the chance to open for Buddy Guy, a blues legend and one of the greatest guitarists of all time.

Brookhaven musician Avery Joyce Landrum recently opened for Guy, who was the headliner at The Rock House in Innis, Louisiana, on March 1.

Guy, 86, is a native of Lettsworth, Louisiana, west across the Mississippi River from Angola, and roughly 120 miles west-southwest from Brookhaven, Landrum’s hometown.

A Blues Legend

Born in 1936, Buddy Guy has won eight Grammy Awards and a Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Medal of Arts, and the Kennedy Center Honors. Guy was ranked 23rd in Rolling Stone magazine’s “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.”

His music has influenced generations of guitarists, including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck, Gary Clark Jr. and John Mayer. In the 1960s, Guy played with Muddy Waters as a session guitarist at Chess Records and began a musical partnership with blues harp virtuoso Junior Wells.

Guy’s song “Stone Crazy” was ranked 78th in the Rolling Stone list of the “100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time.”

Who is Avery Joyce Landrum? 

Guy has said of Landrum: “The Blues Runs Through Her Veins” and “She Was Born to Play Guitar.”

Landrum has been gigging since she was 13 years old and has been playing music her whole life. She is a self-taught multi-instrumentalist gravitating to guitar and keyboard at shows. Taking a break from the traveling lifestyle to work on her music, she now lives in Brookhaven. Her music is a mix of all genres but has a lot of rock and blues influences. On March 11, Landrum will be playing at 1 p.m.the Pacesetter Gallery, at 310 Ridge Way in Flowood.