Blues

The 2018 film Bohemian Rhapsody had a profound effect on Buddy Red, who was 18 years old when the Oscar-winning Queen biopic came out. “Once I saw the movie, it’s like a lightbulb just flickered on in my mind. I said, ‘This is what I’m looking for,’” the shy, soft-spoken Red recalls on a day off at home in Atlanta, although he still looks like he’s dressed to perform in a sharp wide-collared dress shirt. “My musical taste, all the things that I listen to, the fact that Freddie Mercury was a nobody and a little bit of a weirdo until he became Freddie Mercury. And I always feel, y’know, a little out of place. Maybe all this stuff is for a reason, maybe I’m supposed to be on a stage somewhere and really showing people something that they haven’t seen before.”

Quickly, he became a man on a mission. “That’s when I realized I have to play an instrument, because I was producing, making hip-hop beats, before I saw the movie,’” he says. “I said, ‘Let me hurry up and buy a guitar before I talk myself out of it.” The result is a series of singles including “Sold His Soul,” released in August, that feature Red ripping bluesy riffs and psychedelic solos that instantly bring to mind a young Jimi Hendrix.

Buddy Red comes from a musical family, but he’s operating in a different genre from the other performers in his household. He was born Messiah Harris, the eldest child of rap superstar Clifford “T.I.” Harris. His stepmother is Tameka “Tiny” Cottle of the ’90s R&B hitmakers Xscape, and two of his brothers, King and Domani, are also rappers. 

In fact, I interviewed T.I. for SPIN five years ago, singling out the Messiah Harris-produced track “Family Connect” as one of the best songs on the rap veteran’s 2020 album The L.I.B.R.A. The self-proclaimed King of the South recalled how he was spurred to work with the producer 9th Wonder because his son was a fan. “I just kinda linked him with 9th, and they got together. 9th came down, him and Messiah hooked up and exchanged some of their techniques, they use the same machine,” T.I. told me at the time.

As Messiah Harris fell in love with classic rock bands like Pink Floyd as well as ’80s synth pop, he started to feel a little isolated. “Very early on I realized in my musical journey, I’m gonna be on my own a lot, because a lot of people around me don’t hear things that I hear the way that I hear them,” he says, recalling the musical education he received from his family. “They’re only playing me 2Pac, they’re only playing me TLC or New Edition. Of course I’m gonna ask you, why haven’t you played me Rick Astley or Alphaville or Queen?”

Red, who was in college at Georgia State when he bought his first guitar, resembles his father more closely than any of his siblings do, the same distinctive, handsome features framed by a thicker mane of hair and a scruffy beard. But he speaks a lot more slowly and cautiously than T.I., at times seeming more like a nervous teenager than the worldly bluesman, wise beyond his 25 years, that he seems like onstage. When he went to New York City for the studio session to record “Sold His Soul,” he was overwhelmed by the difference from the deep south he grew up in. “I was immediately intimidated by my surroundings. I’m by myself, it’s my first time in New York alone, I don’t know any of these people, the subway looks scary as hell.” 

Red does, however, dress as loudly as many of his musical idols, favoring vests, neckerchiefs and flowing scarves. “My fashion sense, didn’t start to come about until I started collecting records. That’s when I started looking at the people that I was listening to,” he says. “That’s when I started looking at what Robert Plant was wearing, that’s when I started looking at the crazy outfits the Jimi Hendrix Experience was wearing.” 

Soon, he started to work out a stage name to go with his guitar-driven songs, taking inspiration from the members of Pink Floyd, who had combined the names of two of their favorite blues singers, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. “I said, ‘Okay, how can I do that?’ And I’m thinking about my grandfather on my father’s side, his name’s Buddy,” he says. “And I’m thinking about my mother’s side of the family, she says that the way that I dress and the music I listen to, always reminds her of her brother Red, my Uncle Red. I’m thinking Buddy… Red… Buddy Red, that’s how it came to be.”

As people started to learn that one of T.I.’s sons is a rocker, some other Southern hip-hop greats who’ve dabbled in playing the guitar have taken an interest in Buddy Red. “People like Andre 3000 speak to my pops about me, Lil Wayne has spoken to my pops about me,” Red says. “I think once he started seeing the effect that I’m having on people, that’s when he started doing his best to guide me creatively. It’s been times before that, where he said, ‘If you want me to be honest, I don’t know what to do with you, I don’t know anything about this, I gotta do my research.’”

The Buddy Red discography is small so far—just five solo tracks released over the last three years, plus a guest appearance on Atlanta singer ilypicasso’s track “Attachments” earlier this year. “1958” is his most popular song, and it’s also the only time so far that he’s operated as a one-man band, playing all the guitar, bass, and drums on the self-produced track. “I wanna get more into that going forward, because I think I sound pretty good,” he says.

Buddy Red has written other songs that fill out his live set, and in the last few weeks he’s performed at the Butter Fine Arts Fair in Indianapolis and the Neon Prairie Festival in Tulsa, backed by a drummer and bassist. But he’s worked with a variety of different producers and musicians in the studio so far, and really wants to lock down a consistent sound and personnel before he makes a full-length album. “It’s not really cohesive, so before I start thinking about how to put this project out, I want a team that wants to put one type of project out, and I’m still looking for it,” he says. “I have a couple of meetings later this week with some producers to talk about what it is that I wanna do.”

Red’s Indianapolis performance featured the debut of a new cover in his repertoire that reflects how he’s still seeking out different corners of rock history: “No Fun” by the Stooges. “I discovered the Stooges for myself maybe a few months ago, and when I did, I said, ‘Wow, this is what I’ve been looking for,’” he says. “I love Iggy Pop’s voice and how he doesn’t really care, he can screech, he can do this Midwestern drawl, he’s not taking himself so seriously up there. I wish I didn’t take myself so seriously, so when I played ‘No Fun’ for the first time, it felt really liberating, and I discovered a new style for myself right then and there.”