Produced by Cale, "Guitar Man" differs from the albums he made in the seventies and early eighties in that while those records featured numerous top self session players, Cale provided the instrumentation on "Guitar Man" himself, augmented by wife Christine Lakeland on guitar and background vocals and drummer James Cruce on the opener “Death in the Wilderness.” In his AllMusic review of the LP, Thom Owens writes, “Although he has recorded "Guitar Man" as a one-man band effort, it sounds remarkably relaxed and laid-back, like it was made with a seasoned bar band.” In assessing the album, rock writer Brian Wise of "Rhythm Magazine" commented, “‘Lowdown’ is typical Cale shuffle, ‘Days Go By’ gives a jazzy feel to a song about smoking a certain substance while the traditional ‘Old Blue’ reprises a song that many might first have heard with The Byrds version during the Gram Parsons era.” After "Guitar Man", Cale would take a second hiatus and not release another album for eight years.