N°115 - MUDDY WATERS - MISSISSIPPI DELTA BLUES

McKinley Morganfield is probably an unknown name to most of you but when I say Muddy Waters it should ring a bell amongst blues lovers. Muddy, born in 1913 is an old school, black souled, blues artist. It all started when he was given a blues harp at an early age. He’d later trade it in for an acoustic guitar and from that point on it was clear McKinley was made to play music. His nickname “Muddy” was given to him by his grandmother when he was still a young boy. Later Muddy would become Muddy Waters as his stage name.

His first trip to Chicago in 1940 to make it as a musician turned out to be a disappointment. He had to return to his home town a year later. He started a local café with a little stage he used to perform from time to time. This is where Alan Lomax passed his joint and recorded the first Muddy Blues song. This is also the first Time he believed in his music and to make a career out of it. He received a cheque for this Library of Congress recording and he went back to Chicago to give his music career another shot. At first he combined playing the guitar with a regular job but then Big Bill Broonzy picked him up as his opening act. Muddy switched to an electric guitar and his own career took a flight.

In 1948 he scored the first two hits with songs as ‘I feel Like Going Home’ and ‘I Can’t Be Satisfied’ which opened the doors of the biggest blues clubs around Chicago. This lead to his best known song ‘Rollin Stone’. A song later picked up by Mick Jagger and his crew as his band name; also picked up by the world’s leading music magazine Rolling Stone Magazine. In the fifties, Muddy would form his own blues band and the success continued. He performed with the biggest blues musicians in the USA. Just listen to songs as ‘Sugar Boy’ and ‘Forty Days And Forty Nights’.

We’re talking 1958 when Muddy changes direction and tours around England where he discovers he has a huge amount of fans amongst white people who liked the sound of his electric blues combined with his great voice. In the sixties and seventies his music was put away for a while. Yet he kept recording with the biggest blues artists around the world. He even recorded a live session in London in 1972 and although being surrounded by great musicians he thought they couldn’t match his sound stating: “If you change my sound, you’ll change the whole man”.

Late 1970’s he makes a comeback LP named Hard Again, bringing Muddy back to his early Chicago sound. He starts touring again with James Cotton and the album will win a Grammy Award in 1978. That same year he’d bring back together some of his old partners to record another successfully album I’m ready. A year later the live Mississippi album was recorded with his regular band and it is said that only on this album you can hear him play just like he sits right next to you.  More albums followed but also the troubles came. His band asked more money for their contributions but Muddy’s manager didn’t give in. The band split shortly after. 

Muddy being close to his seventies cut back on performing in the nineteen eighties because of a problematic heart disease. He died of a heart failure in 1983 but in his 40 years of playing the blues on a professional level he influenced many music genres and many artists. I already mentioned Mick Jagger but he also helped out Chuck Berry early in his career. Jimi Hendrix also referred to him as his first icon. Other bands and artists would cover some of his songs. His songs also appear in different movies, especially movies situated around that era. He must one of the most influential people in the music business and that’s why he holds a position in the rock and roll hall of fame since 1987.