Buddy Guy performed at the 98th Academy Awards on Sunday, joining the musical tribute to Sinners at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood as part of a live performance of the Oscar-nominated song “I Lied to You.” The appearance capped an awards season that has introduced Guy, at 89, to more new listeners than any previous period in a career spanning nearly seven decades.
The performance brought together Miles Caton, Raphael Saadiq and a guest lineup including Misty Copeland, Eric Gales, Brittany Howard, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Jayme Lawson, Li Jun Li, Bobby Rush, Shaboozey and Alice Smith. It was framed by producers as a narrative extension of the film rather than a standard awards show musical segment, reflecting Sinners‘ treatment of blues music as central to its storytelling.
How it started in Chicago
Ryan Coogler visited Guy personally at Buddy Guy’s Legends, his blues club on South Wabash Avenue in Chicago, to ask for his involvement in the film. Coogler wanted a performer with a direct and living connection to the blues tradition his story was built around. Guy was the answer.
He plays Old Sammie in Sinners, the elderly version of blues musician Sammie ‘Preacher Boy’ Moore, who appears in a mid-credits scene set decades after the film’s main action. By that point, Sammie has survived a supernatural attack and become a successful working musician in Chicago. Miles Caton plays the younger version of the same character throughout the film.
It was Guy’s first significant acting role after nearly 70 years as a performing and recording artist.
What the film did for the blues
Sinners arrived in 2025 as a supernatural thriller and ended the year as a cultural reference point. Its 16 Oscar nominations broke the previous record of 14 held by films including Titanic and La La Land. Michael B. Jordan earned a best actor nomination for playing twin brothers Smoke and Stack. Coogler received a best director nomination.
The film’s treatment of blues as narrative infrastructure rather than period decoration drove a discovery cycle among younger audiences. Viewers who encountered Guy through the mid-credits scene went looking for decades of recordings they had never found before. His NPR Tiny Desk performance alongside Caton, described widely as a masterclass in intergenerational blues transmission, accelerated that interest further.
A career that never actually stopped
Guy’s visibility this awards season reflects new attention more than a new chapter. Born in Lettsworth, Louisiana on July 30, 1936, he moved to Chicago in the late 1950s and became one of the defining voices of the city’s electric blues sound. His influence on Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and the broader arc of rock guitar is well documented. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and has continued performing consistently well into his eighties.
Today’s Oscars appearance, on a stage watched by millions on ABC and Hulu, put that history in front of an audience that had largely not encountered it. For Guy, it was another performance. For the blues, it was a rare night at the center of mainstream attention.
Conan O’Brien hosted the ceremony for the second consecutive year.
