Buster Benton (July 19, 1932 – January 20, 1996) was an American blues guitarist and singer, who played guitar in Willie Dixon's Blues All-Stars, and is best known for his solo rendition of the Dixon-penned song "Spider in My Stew." He was tenacious and in the latter part of his lengthy career, despite the amputation of parts of both his legs, Benton never stopped playing his own version of Chicago blues.
Arley Benton was born in Texarkana, Arkansas.
Whilst residing in Toledo, Ohio, during the mid-1950s, and having been influenced by Sam Cooke and B.B. King, Benton began playing blues music. By 1959, he was leading his own band in Chicago. During the 1960s, local record labels, such as Melloway, Alteen, Sonic, and Twinight Records released several Benton singles, before in 1971 he joined Willie Dixon. Indeed, a lack of opportunity in the early 1960s meant that Benton gave up playing professionally for several years, and he worked as an auto mechanic. Benton's earlier work was an amalgam of blues and soul, which he confusingly dubbed 'disco blues'. However, according to Music journalist, Bill Dahl, "in the late 1970s, when the popularity of blues music was at low ebb, Benton's recordings, particularly for Ronn Records, were a breath of fresh air."
Pushed from the start
Do it right and maybe you'll take a part
Call a spade a spade
Put on your blinkers maybe then you'll be made
To walk the streets
Head full of false facts you can't get back
But you wake up one day
You wake up one day
Can't see the world the same way
All the lights have changed
Your routine's down the drain
Things will never be the same
Some call it art
But it's hard to start
When you don't know the game
But if feels so good
To be understood
By yourself again
Now you've got to fight
You ain't got no wage so you ain't got no rights
Call a spade a spade