"Skin Deep," which surfaced in July, bowed at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Blues Albums chart and holds the No. 2 position after 10 weeks. Guy enlisted guest collaborators including Eric Clapton, Robert Randolph, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks for the set, his tenth Silvertone/Zomba studio release.

"This is the first time I really had more control," the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer explained in his bio. "Everything [on 'Skin Deep'] is new. Most of the other albums have been a few new songs and then back to the older stuff or the covers--which is fine, but you gotta be creative. I would talk to Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck when they were all making records, and they would tell me that they would go in the studio with the freedom to play what they wanted. This time, I had that."

Ironically, Guy is considered a major influence on guitar gods Hendrix, Clapton, Beck and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Though he hasn't scored the commercial success of those players, the 72-year-old performer has been recognized with five Grammys, 23 W.C. Handy Awards and the Presidential National Medal of Arts. Earlier this year, he appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone for the first time as part of the magazine's "100 Greatest Guitar Songs" issue (for his 1961 recording of "Stone Crazy").

"Skin Deep" follows 2005's "Bring 'Em In," which has Guy interpreting a collection of classics with guest stars including Carlos Santana, John Mayer, Tracy Chapman, Robert Randolph and Keith Richards. He also released his first career-spanning box set, "Can't Quit the Blues," in late 2006.