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Muddy Waters *04.04.1913
+30.04.1983
Muddy
Waters (* 4. April 1913 in Rolling Fork, Mississippi; † 30. April 1983
in Westmont, Illinois; eigentlich McKinley Morganfield) war einer der
einflussreichsten US-amerikanischen Bluesmusiker. Das Rolling Stone
Magazine setzt ihn auf Platz 17 der 100 besten Künstler aller Zeiten.Kindheit und Jugend
Muddy Waters wurde als McKinley Morganfield geboren. Da die Familie in der Nähe eines kleinen Nebenflusses des Mississippi namens Deer Creek wohnte und er oft in diesem spielte und dabei dreckig wurde, bekam er von seiner Großmutter den Spitznamen Muddy Waters („schlammiges Wasser“).
1918 starb seine Mutter, und er wuchs fortan bei seiner Großmutter in Clarksdale auf. Als Jugendlicher brachte er sich das Mundharmonikaspiel bei, und um 1930 trat er zusammen mit Scott Bowhandle (Gitarre), Son Simms (Fiddle) und Louis Ford (Mandoline) auf Partys und in Juke Joints auf. 1932 kaufte er sich seine erste Gitarre, und Scott Bowhandle brachte ihm die Grundkenntnisse auf dem Instrument bei. Beeinflusst von Son House und Robert Johnson, entwickelte Muddy Waters in den nächsten Jahren eine Bottleneck-Technik.
Beginn als Musiker
Während Waters als Traktorfahrer auf der Stovall-Plantage arbeitete, nahm er 1941 einige Songs für die Musikforscher Alan Lomax und John Work auf, die damals im Auftrag der US-amerikanischen Library of Congress die Volksmusik in den US-Südstaaten dokumentierten. Zwei dieser Aufnahmen (Country Blues/I Be's Troubled) erschienen auf einer Schellackplatte, die jedoch nicht zum Verkauf bestimmt war, sondern lediglich Dokumentationszwecken diente. Weitere Aufnahmen folgten 1942 und zeigten Muddy Waters auch im Zusammenspiel mit dem Gitarristen Charles Berry sowie als Mitglied der Son Simms Four. Diese Aufnahmen waren – genauso wie die restlichen Einspielungen von 1941 – für das Archiv der Nationalbibliothek bestimmt und wurden erst 1966 teilweise von Pete Welding auf Testament Records veröffentlicht. Eine Komplettedition (The Complete Plantation Recordings) der Aufnahmen wurde 1993 von MCA Records vorgelegt.
1943 zog Waters, wie viele andere Afro-Amerikaner in dieser Zeit, Richtung Norden nach Chicago. Dort wohnte er zunächst bei seiner Schwester und fand Arbeit in einer Papierfabrik. Nebenher spielte er weiter Gitarre und festigte seinen Ruf als Bluesmusiker. Um sich in den oft überfüllten und daher sehr lauten Clubs behaupten zu können, tauschte er bald seine akustische gegen eine elektrische Gitarre ein. Durch Big Bill Broonzy gelangte er in einen Blues-Club namens Sylvio's, wo auch Musiker wie Sonny Boy Williamson II., Doctor Clayton oder Tampa Red auftraten. 1946 erhielt er seine erste Chance, eine Platte für ein kommerzielles, wenn auch obskures Plattenlabel (20th Century) einzuspielen. Das Resultat Mean Red Spider, wurde lediglich als B-Seite auf einer Single des Sängers James „Sweet Lucy“ Carter veröffentlicht. Eine weitere Aufnahmesession im September 1946 für Columbia Records blieb bis 1973 unveröffentlicht. 1947 spielte Muddy mit dem Pianisten Sunnyland Slim für das kurzlebige Label Tempo-Tone zusammen. Als dieser einen Termin bei der Plattenfirma „Aristocrat“ hatte, ließ er Muddy Waters suchen, damit der ihn begleiten konnte. Am Ende der Aufnahmesession konnte Waters zwei eigene Kompositionen einspielen: Gypsy Woman/Little Annie Mae, die sich nicht zum Hit entwickelten. 1948 erhielt er eine weitere Chance bei Aristocrat Records und nahm seine beiden Stücke I Can't Be Satisfied und I Feel Like Going Home auf (welche er schon Alan Lomax vorgespielt hatte).
Obwohl diese beiden Stücke völlig anders klangen als die gängigen Bluesstücke jener Zeit (Louis Jordan, Nat King Cole usw.), wurden sie ein regionaler Erfolg. Deshalb spielte Muddy Waters auf Drängen seiner Plattenfirma zunächst weitere Stücke in einer recht kargen Besetzung mit alleine E-Gitarre und Kontrabass ein. Auf seinen Konzerten trat Muddy Waters jedoch längst mit einer eigenen Band auf, der unter anderem damals Jimmy Rogers, Little Walter und Leroy Foster (ersetzt durch Elgin Evans) angehörten. Mittlerweile hatte auch Aristocrat Records (später Chess Records) das Potential der Band erkannt und brachte Platten mit erweiterter Besetzung heraus, die an den Erfolg von I Can't Be Satisfied und I Feel Like Going Home anknüpfen konnten. Hits aus dieser Zeit waren unter anderem Louisiana Blues (1951), Long Distance Call (1951), Still A Fool (1951) und She Moves Me (1952).
König des Chicago Blues
1953 stieß der Pianist Otis Spann zur Band, und der Sound änderte sich abermals. Waters spielte damals weniger Gitarre und konzentrierte sich dafür stärker auf seinen Gesang. Bassist Willie Dixon schrieb einige Hits für Muddy Waters und war bei den meisten Studiosessions mit dabei.[2] Die Besetzung der Band wechselte in den folgenden Jahren mehrmals bei wachsendem Erfolg. Einspielungen aus dieser Zeit – wie etwa I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man (1954), Just Make Love To Me (1954), Mannish Boy (1955) oder Trouble No More (1956) – markierten einen Höhepunkt seiner Karriere und gelten heute als Klassiker des Chicago Blues. Waters galt als einer der erfolgreichsten Bluesmusiker und spielte auch außerhalb der USA. So tourte er 1958 mit Otis Spann und der Chris Barber Band durch England.
1960 trat Muddy Waters im Zuge des Folk-Revival auf dem Newport Jazz Festival auf. Für viele weiße Fans war es damals die erste Chance, eine Bluesband live zu erleben. Muddy selbst spielte auf dem Konzert ein wenig Slide-Gitarre, konzentrierte sich aber vor allem auf seinen immer expressiver werdenden Gesang. Die Band bestand damals aus James Cotton, Otis Spann, Pat Hare, Andrew Stephenson und Francis Clay. Der Live-Mitschnitt des Konzerts wurde als Album veröffentlicht und ermöglichte Waters, sich einem neuen Publikum – vor allem in Europa – zu präsentieren.
Weitere Karriere: Richtungssuche
Kommerziell und künstlerisch gesehen markierten die folgenden Jahre zunächst einen Tiefpunkt in Waters Karriere. Aufgrund des allgemein schwindenden Interesses an Blues-Musik in den USA, versuchte Chess Records neue Strategien zu finden, um Waters besser vermarkten zu können. Experimente mit modernen bläserorientierten Arrangements, Orgelbegleitung und Background-Sängerinnen blieben ebenso erfolglos, wie der Versuch, einen Twist-Song einzuspielen.
1963 wagte die Plattenfirma ein weiteres Experiment: Diesmal präsentierte sie Muddy Waters als Country Blues Musiker in einer rein akustischen Umgebung. Keine elektrisch verstärkten Instrumente mehr, lediglich akustische Gitarren, Kontrabass und ein kleines Schlagzeug bildeten das Rückgrat für Muddys intensiven Gesang. Musikalisch erwies sich dieses Experiment als erfolgreich und das daraus resultierende Album Folk Singer führte den Begriff unplugged ein, lange bevor dieser durch MTV Unplugged berühmt wurde.
Im Oktober 1963 tourte Muddy Waters mit dem American Folk Blues Festival durch Europa. Ausschnitte dieser Tournee wurden später in der von Joachim Ernst Berendt produzierten Fernsehsendung Jazz – gehört und gesehen gezeigt. 1964 folgte noch einmal eine Europatournee. Im Gegensatz zu den USA, wo das Interesse der jungen afro-amerikanischen Bevölkerung am Blues immer mehr nachließ, begann sich in Europa die Jugend für den Blues zu begeistern. Viele junge Musiker verehrten Muddy Waters als Vorbild und spielten seine Songs, beispielsweise die Rolling Stones, die auf ihren ersten Alben mehrere Muddy-Waters-Stücke coverten.
Das Publikum von Muddy Waters hatte sich mittlerweile völlig verändert. Seine neuen (weißen) Fans liebten und verlangten nunmehr den Sound der Muddy-Waters-Band der 1950er Jahre, der von den meisten Afro-Amerikanern in den 1960er Jahren als „alter Hut“ abgetan wurde. Chess Records – bislang nur darauf ausgerichtet, Blues für ein afro-amerikanisches Publikum zu produzieren – reagierte auf diesen Trend mit neuen Vermarktungs-Strategien. So erschien 1966 das Brass And The Blues Album, das ein „reifes“ Jazzpublikum ansprechen sollte. Das Album bestand aus Bluesstandards, die von Muddy Waters neu interpretiert wurden. Ein zugefügter Bläsersatz sollte das Produkt musikalisch aufwerten. Von den Fans wurde das Album jedoch größtenteils ignoriert. 1967 erschien dann das Super Blues-Album mit Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley und Little Walter. Dieses Album war als Jam-Session konzipiert und sollte ein Hippie-Publikum ansprechen. Obwohl das Ergebnis etwas chaotisch klang, war das Album erfolgreich genug, um einige Monate später das Super Super Blues-Projekt folgen zu lassen. Das Konzept war identisch; Little Walter wurde durch Howlin' Wolf ersetzt. 1968 bzw. 1969 folgten die vom Psychedelic Rock beeinflussten Konzept-Alben Electric Mud und After The Rain, die kontrovers diskutiert wurden.
Die Veröffentlichung von Fathers and Sons im September 1969 markierte Muddys Rückkehr zu einem traditionelleren musikalischen Konzept auch im Studio. Für dieses Album hatte man Muddy Waters (als „Vater“) mit jungen US-amerikanischen Musikern – Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield und Donald „Duck“ Dunn – zusammengebracht. Mit Unterstützung von Otis Spann am Klavier und Sam Lay am Schlagzeug entstanden hörenswerte Neuauflagen einiger seiner Klassiker. Die zweite LP des Doppelalbums war ein Mitschnitt eines Konzerts, das im Anschluss an die Studio-Sessions stattgefunden hatte. Im Oktober 1969 wurde Waters bei einem Autounfall schwer verletzt und war monatelang auf Krücken angewiesen. Ende 1970 konnte er jedoch schon wieder auf Europatournee gehen.
1970er Jahre
Da Muddy Waters seinen Ruf als mitreißender Live-Künstler weiterhin festigte, veröffentlichte seine Plattenfirma 1971 das Album Live At Mr. Kelly's. Es präsentierte Muddy live in einem Chicagoer Blues-Club. Zur Band gehörten damals Paul Oscher, Pinetop Perkins, Pee Wee Madison, Sammy Lawhorn, Calvin „Fuzz“ Jones und Willie „Big Eyes“ Smith. Obwohl Muddy Waters in den 1970er Jahren fast ständig auf Tournee war, widmete er sich weiteren Studioprojekten. 1972 erschien das Album London Sessions, das er zusammen mit britischen Musikern (Rory Gallagher, Steve Winwood, Georgie Fame und Mitch Mitchell) einspielte. Eine anschließende Europatournee führte auch auf das Montreux Jazz Festival. Der dortige Auftritt wurde teilweise auf der LP Blues Avalanche – Montreux 1972 veröffentlicht. Zwischendurch erschien das 1972 in Chicago eingespielte Album Can't Get No Grindin'. 1973 folgten Tourneen durch Australien und Neuseeland. Im Januar 1974 wurde ein weiteres Studioalbum in Chicago eingespielt – Unk In Funk. Im gleichen Jahr war er wieder in Europa unterwegs und trat bei den Jazzfestivals in Antibes sowie in Montreux auf. Sein letztes Album für Chess Records spielte er 1975 mit Mitgliedern von The Band ein. Das Jahr 1976 brachte eine weitere große Europatournee mit Stationen in Deutschland, Polen, Schweden, Italien und der Schweiz. Im gleichen Jahr unterzeichnete Waters einen Vertrag bei Blue Sky Records, einem Label, das Johnny Winters Manager Steve Paul gehörte.
Im Januar 1977 wurde das erste von Johnny Winter produzierte Album Hard Again für Blue Sky veröffentlicht. Das Album war im Oktober 1976 in lockerer Atmosphäre im Studio von Dan Hartman eingespielt worden und wurde ein großer Erfolg.[3] I’m Ready, Waters zweites Album für Blue Sky, wurde 1978 veröffentlicht. Von der Atmosphäre her ähnlich wie das Vorgängeralbum, konnten für diese Aufnahmesessions Jimmy Rogers und Big Walter Horton als Gastmusiker gewonnen werden, die bereits in den 1940er und 1950er Jahren in seiner Band gespielt hatten. Das dritte Blue Sky-Album Muddy „Mississippi“ Waters Live war ein Live-Album und bestand aus Titeln, die zum Teil bereits 1977 während einer Promotion-Tour für das Hard Again Album mitgeschnitten worden waren. Ergänzt wurden diese Aufnahmen durch Live-Mitschnitte von 1978. Die Aufnahmesessions für Muddys letztes Album King Bee im Mai 1980 standen unter keinem guten Stern. Es gab Spannungen zwischen Muddy, seiner Band und seinem Manager Scott Cameron wegen einer geschäftlichen Auseinandersetzung. Nach einer anschließenden zweiwöchigen Japantournee trennte sich die Band (Luther „Guitar Jr.“ Johnson, Bob Margolin, Jerry Portnoy, Calvin „Fuzz“ Jones, Pinetop Perkins, Willie „Big Eyes“ Smith) schließlich von Muddy. Alle Musiker hielten jedoch ihre persönliche Freundschaft zu Muddy bis zu seinem Tod 1983 aufrecht.
Die letzten Jahre
Mit einer neuen Band, die aus Lovie Lee, George „Mojo“ Buford, John Primer, Rick Kreher, Earnest Johnson und Ray Allison bestand, ging Muddy 1980 das letzte Mal auf Europatournee. Aufgrund seines schlechter werdenden Gesundheitszustandes mussten jedoch immer mehr Konzertauftritte abgesagt werden. 1981 spielte er zusammen mit den Rolling Stones in der Checkerboard Lounge in Chicago. Ein Videomitschnitt des Konzerts erschien zuerst auf einer Bootleg-LP und stellt das letzte bekannte Tondokument Muddy Waters' dar. Dieser Mitschnitt wurde später offiziell als DVD bzw. CD/DVD veröffentlicht.
Am 29. April 1983 feierte der Londoner Marquee Club sein 25-jähriges Jubiläum mit Künstlern wie Alexis Korner, Charlie Watts oder Bill Wyman von den Rolling Stones. Sie spielten an diesem Abend die Musik von Muddy Waters, ohne zu ahnen, dass dies bereits ein Nachruf auf ihn war. Am nächsten Tag wurde Muddy Waters’ Tod bekannt gegeben.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muddy_Waters
McKinley
Morganfield (April 4, 1913[2] – April 30, 1983), known by his stage
name Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician. He is often
considered the "father of modern Chicago blues".[3]
Muddy Waters grew up on Stovall Plantation near Clarksdale, Mississippi and by age seventeen was playing the guitar at parties, emulating local blues artists Son House and Robert Johnson.[4] He was recorded by Alan Lomax there for the Library of Congress in 1941.[5][6] In 1943, he headed to Chicago with the hope of becoming a full-time professional musician, eventually recording, in 1946, for first Columbia and then Aristocrat Records, a newly formed label run by brothers Leonard and Phil Chess.
In the early 1950s, Muddy and his band, Little Walter Jacobs on harmonica, Jimmy Rogers on guitar, Elgin Evans on drums and Otis Spann on piano, recorded a series of blues classics, some with bassist/songwriter Willie Dixon, including "Hoochie Coochie Man", "I Just Want to Make Love to You" and "I'm Ready". In 1958, Muddy headed to England, helping to lay the foundations of the subsequent blues boom there, and in 1960 performed at the Newport Jazz Festival, recorded and released as his first live album, At Newport 1960.
Muddy's influence is tremendous, not just on blues and rhythm and blues but on rock 'n' roll, hard rock, folk, jazz, and country; his use of amplification is often cited as the link between Delta blues and rock 'n' roll.[7][8]
Early life
Although in his later years Muddy usually said that he was born in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, in 1915, he was most likely born at Jug's Corner in neighboring Issaquena County in 1913.[9] Recent research has uncovered documentation showing that in the 1930s and 1940s, before his rise to fame, he reported his birth year as 1913 on his marriage license, recording notes and musicians' union card. A 1955 interview in the Chicago Defender is the earliest claim of 1915 as his year of birth, which he continued to use in interviews from that point onward. The 1920 census lists him as five years old as of March 6, 1920, suggesting that his birth year may have been 1914. The Social Security Death Index, relying on the Social Security card application submitted after his move to Chicago in the mid-1940s, lists him as being born April 4, 1913. Muddy's gravestone gives his birth year as 1915.
Muddy's grandmother, Della Grant, raised him after his mother died shortly following his birth. Della gave the boy the nickname "Muddy" at an early age because he loved to play in the muddy water of nearby Deer Creek.[10] Muddy later changed it to "Muddy Water" and finally "Muddy Waters".
The shack where Muddy Waters lived in his youth on Stovall Plantation is now located at the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He started out on harmonica, but by age seventeen he was playing the guitar at parties, emulating two blues artists in particular, Son House and Robert Johnson.
On November 20, 1932, Muddy married Mabel Berry. Guitarist Robert Nighthawk played at the wedding and the party reportedly got so wild the floor fell in.[11] Mabel left Muddy three years later when Muddy's first child was born; the child's mother was Leola Spain, 16 years old (Leola later used her maiden name, Brown), "married to a man named Steven" and "going with a guy named Tucker". Leola was the only one of his girlfriends with whom Muddy would stay in touch throughout his life; they never married. By the time he finally cut out for Chicago in 1943, there was another Mrs. Morganfield left behind, a girl called Sallie Ann.[12]
Early career
In August[6] of 1941, Alan Lomax went to Stovall, Mississippi on behalf of the Library of Congress to record various country blues musicians. "He brought his stuff down and recorded me right in my house," Muddy recalled in Rolling Stone, "and when he played back the first song I sounded just like anybody's records. Man, you don't know how I felt that Saturday afternoon when I heard that voice and it was my own voice. Later on he sent me two copies of the pressing and a check for twenty bucks, and I carried that record up to the corner and put it on the jukebox. Just played it and played it and said, 'I can do it, I can do it.'"[5] Lomax came back in July 1942 to record Muddy again. Both sessions were eventually released as Down On Stovall's Plantation on the Testament label.[13] The complete recordings were re-issued on CD as Muddy Waters: The Complete Plantation Recordings. The historic 1941-42 Library of Congress field recordings by Chess Records in 1993, and re-mastered in 1997.[14]
In 1943, Muddy headed to Chicago with the hope of becoming a full-time professional musician. He lived with a relative for a short period while driving a truck and working in a factory by day and performing at night. Big Bill Broonzy, then one of the leading blues-men in Chicago, helped Muddy break into the very competitive market by allowing him to open for his shows in the rowdy clubs.[15] In 1945, Muddy's uncle, Joe Grant, gave him his first electric guitar, which enabled him to be heard above the noisy crowds.[16]
In 1946, he recorded some tunes for Mayo Williams at Columbia but they were not released at the time. Later that year he began recording for Aristocrat Records, a newly formed label run by two brothers, Leonard and Phil Chess. In 1947, he played guitar with Sunnyland Slim on piano on the cuts "Gypsy Woman" and "Little Anna Mae." These were also shelved, but in 1948, "I Can't Be Satisfied" and "I Feel Like Going Home" became big hits and his popularity in clubs began to take off. Soon after, Aristocrat changed their label name to Chess Records and Muddy's signature tune "Rollin' Stone" also became a smash hit.
Commercial success
Initially, the Chess brothers would not allow Muddy to use his working band in the recording studio; instead he was provided with a backing bass by Ernest "Big" Crawford, or by musicians assembled specifically for the recording session, including "Baby Face" Leroy Foster and Johnny Jones. Gradually Chess relented, and by September 1953 he was recording with one of the most acclaimed blues groups in history: Little Walter Jacobs on harmonica, Jimmy Rogers on guitar, Elga Edmonds (a.k.a. Elgin Evans) on drums and Otis Spann on piano. The band recorded a series of blues classics during the early 1950s, some with the help of bassist/songwriter Willie Dixon, including "Hoochie Coochie Man" (Number 8 on the R&B charts), "I Just Want to Make Love to You" (Number 4), and "I'm Ready". These three were "the most macho songs in his repertoire," wrote Robert Palmer in Rolling Stone. "Muddy would never have composed anything so unsubtle. But they gave him a succession of showstoppers and an image, which were important for a bluesman trying to break out of the grind of local gigs into national prominence."[citation needed] Along with his former harmonica player Little Walter Jacobs and recent southern transplant Howlin' Wolf, Muddy reigned over the early 1950s Chicago blues scene, his band becoming a proving ground for some of the city's best blues talent. While Little Walter continued a collaborative relationship long after he left Muddy's band in 1952, appearing on most of Muddy's classic recordings throughout the 1950s, Muddy developed a long-running, generally good-natured rivalry with Wolf... The success of Muddy's ensemble paved the way for others in his group to break away and enjoy their own solo careers. In 1952 Little Walter left when his single "Juke" became a hit, and in 1955 Rogers quit to work exclusively with his own band, which had been a sideline until that time. Although he continued working with Muddy's band, Otis Spann enjoyed a solo career and many releases under his own name beginning in the mid-1950s. Around that time, Muddy Waters scored hits with songs "Mannish Boy"[1] and "Sugar Sweet" in 1955, followed by the R&B hits "Trouble No More," "Forty Days & Forty Nights" and "Don't Go No Farther" in 1956.[17]
England and low profile
Muddy headed to England in 1958 and shocked audiences (whose only previous exposure to blues had come via the acoustic folk/blues sounds of acts such as Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee and Big Bill Broonzy) with his loud, amplified electric guitar and thunderous beat. His performance at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival, recorded and released as his first live album, At Newport 1960, helped turn on a whole new generation to Muddy's sound. He expressed dismay when he realized that members of his own race were turning their backs on the genre while a white audience had shown increasing respect for the blues.
However, for the better part of twenty years (since his last big hit in 1956, "I'm Ready") Muddy was put on the back shelf by the Chess label and recorded albums with various "popular" themes: Brass And The Blues, Electric Mud, etc. In 1967, he joined forces with Bo Diddley, Little Walter and Howlin' Wolf to record the Super Blues and The Super Super Blues Band pair of albums of Chess blues standards. In 1972 he went back to England to record The London Muddy Waters Sessions with Rory Gallagher, Steve Winwood, Rick Grech and Mitch Mitchell — but their playing was not up to his standards. "These boys are top musicians, they can play with me, put the book before 'em and play it, you know," he told Guralnick. "But that ain't what I need to sell my people, it ain't the Muddy Waters sound. An' if you change my sound, then you gonna change the whole man."
Muddy's sound was basically Delta blues electrified, but his use of microtones, in both his vocals and slide playing, made it extremely difficult to duplicate and follow correctly.[citation needed] "When I play on the stage with my band, I have to get in there with my guitar and try to bring the sound down to me. But no sooner than I quit playing, it goes back to another, different sound. My blues look so simple, so easy to do, but it's not. They say my blues is the hardest blues in the world to play."[18]
Comeback
Muddy's long-time wife Geneva died of cancer on March 15, 1973. A devastated Muddy was taken to a doctor and told to quit smoking, which he did. Gaining custody of some of his "outside kids", he moved them into his home, eventually buying a new house in Westmont, Illinois. Another teenage daughter turned up while Muddy was on tour in New Orleans; Big Bill Morganfield was introduced to his Dad after a gig in Florida. Florida was also where Muddy met his future wife, the 19-year-old Marva Jean Brooks whom he nicknamed "Sunshine".[19] Eric Clapton served as best man at their wedding in 1979.[20]
On November 25, 1976, Muddy Waters performed at The Band's farewell concert at Winterland in San Francisco. The concert was released as both a record and a film, The Last Waltz, featuring a performance of "Mannish Boy" with Paul Butterfield on harmonica.
In 1977 Johnny Winter convinced his label, Blue Sky, to sign Muddy, the beginning of a fruitful partnership. His "comeback" LP, Hard Again, was recorded in just two days and was a return to the original Chicago sound he had created 25 years earlier, thanks to Winter's production. Former sideman James Cotton contributed harmonica on the Grammy Award winning album and a brief tour followed.
The Muddy Waters Blues Band at the time included guitarists Sammy Lawhorn, Bob Margolin and Luther "Snake Boy" Johnson, pianist Pinetop Perkins, harmonica player Jerry Portnoy, bassist Calvin "Fuzz" Jones and drummer Willie "Big Eyes" Smith. On "Hard Again", Winter played guitar in addition to producing; Muddy asked James Cotton to play harp on the session, and Cotton brought his own bassist Charles Calmese. According to Margolin's liner notes, Muddy did not play guitar during these sessions. The album covers a broad spectrum of styles, from the opening of "Mannish Boy", with shouts and hollers throughout, to the old-style Delta blues of "I Can't Be Satisfied", with a National Steel solo by Winter, to Cotton's screeching intro to "The Blues Had a Baby", to the moaning closer "Little Girl". Its live feel harks back to the Chess Records days, and it evokes a feeling of intimacy and cooperative musicianship. The expanded reissue includes one bonus track, a remake of the 1950s single "Walking Through the Park". The other outtakes from the album sessions appear on King Bee. Margolin's notes state that the reissued album was remastered but that remixing was not considered to be necessary. Hard Again was the first studio collaboration between Muddy and Winter, who produced his final four albums, the others being I'm Ready, King Bee, and Muddy "Mississippi" Waters - Live, for Blue Sky, a Columbia Records subsidiary.
In 1978, Winter recruited two of Muddy's cohorts from the early 1950s, Big Walter Horton and Jimmy Rogers, and brought in the rest of his touring band at the time (harmonica player Jerry Portnoy, guitarist Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson, and bassist Calvin "Fuzz" Jones) to record I'm Ready, which came close to the critical and commercial success of Hard Again.
The comeback continued in 1979 with the lauded LP Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live. "Muddy was loose for this one," wrote Jas Obrecht in Guitar Player, "and the result is the next best thing to being ringside at one of his foot-thumping, head-nodding, downhome blues shows." On the album, Muddy is accompanied by his touring band, augmented by Johnny Winter on guitar. The set list contains most of his biggest hits, and the album has an energetic feel. King Bee the following year concluded Waters' reign at Blue Sky, and these last four LPs turned out to be his biggest-selling albums ever. King Bee was the last album Muddy Waters recorded. Coming last in a trio of studio outings produced by Johnny Winter, it is also a mixed bag. During the sessions for King Bee, Muddy, his manager and his band were involved in a dispute over money. According to the liner notes by Bob Margolin, the conflict arose from Muddy's health being on the wane and consequently playing fewer engagements. The bandmembers wanted more money for each of the fewer gigs they did play in order to make ends meet. Ultimately a split occurred and the entire band quit. Because of the tensions in the studio preceding the split, Winter felt the sessions had not produced enough solid material to yield an entire album, and filled out King Bee with outtakes from earlier Blue Sky sessions. The cover photograph is by David Michael Kennedy. For the listener, King Bee is a leaner and meaner record. Less of the good-time exuberance present on the previous two outings is present here. The title track, "Mean Old Frisco", "Sad Sad Day", and "I Feel Like Going Home", are all blues with ensemble work. The Sony Legacy issue features completely remastered sound and Margolin's notes, and also hosts two bonus tracks from the King Bee sessions that Winter did not see fit to release the first time.
In 1981, Muddy Waters was invited to perform at ChicagoFest, the city's top outdoor music festival. He was joined onstage by Johnny Winter—who had successfully produced his most recent albums—and played classics like "Mannish Boy," "Trouble No More" and "Mojo Working" to a new generation of fans. This historic performance was made available on DVD in 2009 by Shout! Factory. Later that year, Waters performed live with the Rolling Stones at the Checkerboard Lounge, with a DVD version of the concert released in 2012.[21]
In 1982, declining health dramatically curtailed Muddy's performance schedule. His last public performance took place when he sat in with Eric Clapton's band at a Clapton concert in Florida in autumn of 1982.[22]
Death
On April 30, 1983, Muddy Waters died in his sleep from heart failure, at his home in Westmont, Illinois. At his funeral at Restvale Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois, throngs of blues musicians and fans showed up to pay tribute to one of the true originals of the art form. "Muddy was a master of just the right notes," John P. Hammond, told Guitar World magazine. "It was profound guitar playing, deep and simple... more country blues transposed to the electric guitar, the kind of playing that enhanced the lyrics, gave profundity to the words themselves." Two years after his death, Chicago honored him by designating the one-block section between 900 and 1000 E. 43rd Street near his former home on the south side "Honorary Muddy Waters Drive".[23] The Chicago suburb of Westmont, where Muddy lived the last decade of his life, named a section of Cass Avenue near his home "Honorary Muddy Waters Way".[24] Following his death, fellow blues musician B.B. King told Guitar World, "It's going to be years and years before most people realize how greatly he contributed to American music". A Mississippi Blues Trail marker has been placed in Clarksdale, Mississippi, by the Mississippi Blues Commission designating the site of Muddy Waters' cabin.[25]
Influence
His influence is tremendous, over a variety of music genres: blues, rhythm and blues, rock 'n' roll, hard rock, folk, jazz, and country. He also helped Chuck Berry get his first record contract.
His 1958 tour of England marked possibly the first time amplified, modern urban blues was heard there, although on his first tour he was the only one amplified. His backing was provided by Englishman Chris Barber's trad jazz group.
His use of amplification is cited as "the technological missing link between Delta Blues and Rock 'N' Roll."[7] This is underlined in a 1968 article in Rolling Stone magazine: “There was a difference between Muddy’s instrumental work and that of House and Johnson, however, and the crucial difference was the result of Waters’ use of the electric guitar on his Aristocrat sides; he had taken up the instrument shortly after moving to Chicago in 1943.”[8]
The Rolling Stones named themselves after his 1950 song "Rollin' Stone" (also known as "Catfish Blues", which Jimi Hendrix covered as well). The magazine Rolling Stone also took its name from the same song. Hendrix recalled "the first guitar player I was aware of was Muddy Waters. I first heard him as a little boy and it scared me to death". Cream covered "Rollin' and Tumblin'" on their 1966 debut album Fresh Cream, as Eric Clapton was a big fan of Muddy Waters when he was growing up, and his music influenced Clapton's music career. The song was also covered by Canned Heat at the legendary Monterey Pop Festival and later adapted by Bob Dylan on the album Modern Times. One of Led Zeppelin's biggest hits, "Whole Lotta Love", is lyrically based upon the Muddy Waters hit "You Need Love", written by Willie Dixon. Dixon wrote some of Muddy Waters' most famous songs, including "I Just Want to Make Love to You" (a big radio hit for Etta James, as well as the 1970s rock band Foghat), "Hoochie Coochie Man", which The Allman Brothers Band famously covered (the song was also covered by Humble Pie and Steppenwolf), "Trouble No More" and "I'm Ready". In 1993, Paul Rodgers released the album Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters, on which he covered a number of Muddy Waters songs, including "Louisiana Blues", "Rollin' Stone", "Hoochie Coochie Man" and "I'm Ready" (among others) in collaboration with a number of famous guitarists including Gary Moore, Brian May and Jeff Beck.
Angus Young of the rock group AC/DC has cited Muddy Waters as one of his influences. The AC/DC song title "You Shook Me All Night Long" came from lyrics of the Muddy Waters song "You Shook Me", written by Willie Dixon and J. B. Lenoir. Earl Hooker first recorded it as an instrumental, which was then overdubbed with vocals by Muddy Waters in 1962. Led Zeppelin also covered it on their debut album.
Muddy Waters' songs have been featured in long-time fan Martin Scorsese's movies, including The Color of Money, Goodfellas and Casino. Muddy Waters' 1970s recording of his mid-'50s hit "Mannish Boy" (a.k.a. "I'm A Man") was used in Goodfellas, Better Off Dead, and the hit film Risky Business, and also features in the rockumentary The Last Waltz.
The song "Come Together" by The Beatles references Muddy Waters: "He roller coaster/he got Muddy Waters."
Van Morrison lyrics include "Muddy Waters singin', "I'm a Rolling Stone" from his 1982 song "Cleaning Windows", on the album Beautiful Vision.
American Stoner Metal band Bongzilla covered Muddy Water's song Champagne and Reefer on their album Amerijuanican.
In 2008, Jeffrey Wright portrayed Muddy in the biopic Cadillac Records, a film about the rise and fall of Chess Records and the lives of its recording artists. A second 2008 film about Leonard Chess and Chess Records, Who Do You Love, also covers Muddy's time at Chess Records.
In the 2009 film The Boat that Rocked (retitled Pirate Radio in the U.S) about pirate radio in the UK, the cryptic message that late-night DJ Bob gives to Carl to give to Carl's mother is: "Muddy Waters Rocks."
In 1990, the television show Doogie Howser, M.D. featured an episode called "Doogie Sings the Blues" with the main character, Blind Otis Lemon, based on Muddy Waters, with references to his influence on the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, along with the performance of "Got My Mojo Working" by Blind Otis Lemon. He is also referred to as the original "Hoochie Coochie Man".
Muddy's son Larry "Mud" Morganfield is a professional blues singer and musician.
Muddy Waters grew up on Stovall Plantation near Clarksdale, Mississippi and by age seventeen was playing the guitar at parties, emulating local blues artists Son House and Robert Johnson.[4] He was recorded by Alan Lomax there for the Library of Congress in 1941.[5][6] In 1943, he headed to Chicago with the hope of becoming a full-time professional musician, eventually recording, in 1946, for first Columbia and then Aristocrat Records, a newly formed label run by brothers Leonard and Phil Chess.
In the early 1950s, Muddy and his band, Little Walter Jacobs on harmonica, Jimmy Rogers on guitar, Elgin Evans on drums and Otis Spann on piano, recorded a series of blues classics, some with bassist/songwriter Willie Dixon, including "Hoochie Coochie Man", "I Just Want to Make Love to You" and "I'm Ready". In 1958, Muddy headed to England, helping to lay the foundations of the subsequent blues boom there, and in 1960 performed at the Newport Jazz Festival, recorded and released as his first live album, At Newport 1960.
Muddy's influence is tremendous, not just on blues and rhythm and blues but on rock 'n' roll, hard rock, folk, jazz, and country; his use of amplification is often cited as the link between Delta blues and rock 'n' roll.[7][8]
Early life
Although in his later years Muddy usually said that he was born in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, in 1915, he was most likely born at Jug's Corner in neighboring Issaquena County in 1913.[9] Recent research has uncovered documentation showing that in the 1930s and 1940s, before his rise to fame, he reported his birth year as 1913 on his marriage license, recording notes and musicians' union card. A 1955 interview in the Chicago Defender is the earliest claim of 1915 as his year of birth, which he continued to use in interviews from that point onward. The 1920 census lists him as five years old as of March 6, 1920, suggesting that his birth year may have been 1914. The Social Security Death Index, relying on the Social Security card application submitted after his move to Chicago in the mid-1940s, lists him as being born April 4, 1913. Muddy's gravestone gives his birth year as 1915.
Muddy's grandmother, Della Grant, raised him after his mother died shortly following his birth. Della gave the boy the nickname "Muddy" at an early age because he loved to play in the muddy water of nearby Deer Creek.[10] Muddy later changed it to "Muddy Water" and finally "Muddy Waters".
The shack where Muddy Waters lived in his youth on Stovall Plantation is now located at the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He started out on harmonica, but by age seventeen he was playing the guitar at parties, emulating two blues artists in particular, Son House and Robert Johnson.
On November 20, 1932, Muddy married Mabel Berry. Guitarist Robert Nighthawk played at the wedding and the party reportedly got so wild the floor fell in.[11] Mabel left Muddy three years later when Muddy's first child was born; the child's mother was Leola Spain, 16 years old (Leola later used her maiden name, Brown), "married to a man named Steven" and "going with a guy named Tucker". Leola was the only one of his girlfriends with whom Muddy would stay in touch throughout his life; they never married. By the time he finally cut out for Chicago in 1943, there was another Mrs. Morganfield left behind, a girl called Sallie Ann.[12]
Early career
In August[6] of 1941, Alan Lomax went to Stovall, Mississippi on behalf of the Library of Congress to record various country blues musicians. "He brought his stuff down and recorded me right in my house," Muddy recalled in Rolling Stone, "and when he played back the first song I sounded just like anybody's records. Man, you don't know how I felt that Saturday afternoon when I heard that voice and it was my own voice. Later on he sent me two copies of the pressing and a check for twenty bucks, and I carried that record up to the corner and put it on the jukebox. Just played it and played it and said, 'I can do it, I can do it.'"[5] Lomax came back in July 1942 to record Muddy again. Both sessions were eventually released as Down On Stovall's Plantation on the Testament label.[13] The complete recordings were re-issued on CD as Muddy Waters: The Complete Plantation Recordings. The historic 1941-42 Library of Congress field recordings by Chess Records in 1993, and re-mastered in 1997.[14]
In 1943, Muddy headed to Chicago with the hope of becoming a full-time professional musician. He lived with a relative for a short period while driving a truck and working in a factory by day and performing at night. Big Bill Broonzy, then one of the leading blues-men in Chicago, helped Muddy break into the very competitive market by allowing him to open for his shows in the rowdy clubs.[15] In 1945, Muddy's uncle, Joe Grant, gave him his first electric guitar, which enabled him to be heard above the noisy crowds.[16]
In 1946, he recorded some tunes for Mayo Williams at Columbia but they were not released at the time. Later that year he began recording for Aristocrat Records, a newly formed label run by two brothers, Leonard and Phil Chess. In 1947, he played guitar with Sunnyland Slim on piano on the cuts "Gypsy Woman" and "Little Anna Mae." These were also shelved, but in 1948, "I Can't Be Satisfied" and "I Feel Like Going Home" became big hits and his popularity in clubs began to take off. Soon after, Aristocrat changed their label name to Chess Records and Muddy's signature tune "Rollin' Stone" also became a smash hit.
Commercial success
Initially, the Chess brothers would not allow Muddy to use his working band in the recording studio; instead he was provided with a backing bass by Ernest "Big" Crawford, or by musicians assembled specifically for the recording session, including "Baby Face" Leroy Foster and Johnny Jones. Gradually Chess relented, and by September 1953 he was recording with one of the most acclaimed blues groups in history: Little Walter Jacobs on harmonica, Jimmy Rogers on guitar, Elga Edmonds (a.k.a. Elgin Evans) on drums and Otis Spann on piano. The band recorded a series of blues classics during the early 1950s, some with the help of bassist/songwriter Willie Dixon, including "Hoochie Coochie Man" (Number 8 on the R&B charts), "I Just Want to Make Love to You" (Number 4), and "I'm Ready". These three were "the most macho songs in his repertoire," wrote Robert Palmer in Rolling Stone. "Muddy would never have composed anything so unsubtle. But they gave him a succession of showstoppers and an image, which were important for a bluesman trying to break out of the grind of local gigs into national prominence."[citation needed] Along with his former harmonica player Little Walter Jacobs and recent southern transplant Howlin' Wolf, Muddy reigned over the early 1950s Chicago blues scene, his band becoming a proving ground for some of the city's best blues talent. While Little Walter continued a collaborative relationship long after he left Muddy's band in 1952, appearing on most of Muddy's classic recordings throughout the 1950s, Muddy developed a long-running, generally good-natured rivalry with Wolf... The success of Muddy's ensemble paved the way for others in his group to break away and enjoy their own solo careers. In 1952 Little Walter left when his single "Juke" became a hit, and in 1955 Rogers quit to work exclusively with his own band, which had been a sideline until that time. Although he continued working with Muddy's band, Otis Spann enjoyed a solo career and many releases under his own name beginning in the mid-1950s. Around that time, Muddy Waters scored hits with songs "Mannish Boy"[1] and "Sugar Sweet" in 1955, followed by the R&B hits "Trouble No More," "Forty Days & Forty Nights" and "Don't Go No Farther" in 1956.[17]
England and low profile
Muddy headed to England in 1958 and shocked audiences (whose only previous exposure to blues had come via the acoustic folk/blues sounds of acts such as Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee and Big Bill Broonzy) with his loud, amplified electric guitar and thunderous beat. His performance at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival, recorded and released as his first live album, At Newport 1960, helped turn on a whole new generation to Muddy's sound. He expressed dismay when he realized that members of his own race were turning their backs on the genre while a white audience had shown increasing respect for the blues.
However, for the better part of twenty years (since his last big hit in 1956, "I'm Ready") Muddy was put on the back shelf by the Chess label and recorded albums with various "popular" themes: Brass And The Blues, Electric Mud, etc. In 1967, he joined forces with Bo Diddley, Little Walter and Howlin' Wolf to record the Super Blues and The Super Super Blues Band pair of albums of Chess blues standards. In 1972 he went back to England to record The London Muddy Waters Sessions with Rory Gallagher, Steve Winwood, Rick Grech and Mitch Mitchell — but their playing was not up to his standards. "These boys are top musicians, they can play with me, put the book before 'em and play it, you know," he told Guralnick. "But that ain't what I need to sell my people, it ain't the Muddy Waters sound. An' if you change my sound, then you gonna change the whole man."
Muddy's sound was basically Delta blues electrified, but his use of microtones, in both his vocals and slide playing, made it extremely difficult to duplicate and follow correctly.[citation needed] "When I play on the stage with my band, I have to get in there with my guitar and try to bring the sound down to me. But no sooner than I quit playing, it goes back to another, different sound. My blues look so simple, so easy to do, but it's not. They say my blues is the hardest blues in the world to play."[18]
Comeback
Muddy's long-time wife Geneva died of cancer on March 15, 1973. A devastated Muddy was taken to a doctor and told to quit smoking, which he did. Gaining custody of some of his "outside kids", he moved them into his home, eventually buying a new house in Westmont, Illinois. Another teenage daughter turned up while Muddy was on tour in New Orleans; Big Bill Morganfield was introduced to his Dad after a gig in Florida. Florida was also where Muddy met his future wife, the 19-year-old Marva Jean Brooks whom he nicknamed "Sunshine".[19] Eric Clapton served as best man at their wedding in 1979.[20]
On November 25, 1976, Muddy Waters performed at The Band's farewell concert at Winterland in San Francisco. The concert was released as both a record and a film, The Last Waltz, featuring a performance of "Mannish Boy" with Paul Butterfield on harmonica.
In 1977 Johnny Winter convinced his label, Blue Sky, to sign Muddy, the beginning of a fruitful partnership. His "comeback" LP, Hard Again, was recorded in just two days and was a return to the original Chicago sound he had created 25 years earlier, thanks to Winter's production. Former sideman James Cotton contributed harmonica on the Grammy Award winning album and a brief tour followed.
The Muddy Waters Blues Band at the time included guitarists Sammy Lawhorn, Bob Margolin and Luther "Snake Boy" Johnson, pianist Pinetop Perkins, harmonica player Jerry Portnoy, bassist Calvin "Fuzz" Jones and drummer Willie "Big Eyes" Smith. On "Hard Again", Winter played guitar in addition to producing; Muddy asked James Cotton to play harp on the session, and Cotton brought his own bassist Charles Calmese. According to Margolin's liner notes, Muddy did not play guitar during these sessions. The album covers a broad spectrum of styles, from the opening of "Mannish Boy", with shouts and hollers throughout, to the old-style Delta blues of "I Can't Be Satisfied", with a National Steel solo by Winter, to Cotton's screeching intro to "The Blues Had a Baby", to the moaning closer "Little Girl". Its live feel harks back to the Chess Records days, and it evokes a feeling of intimacy and cooperative musicianship. The expanded reissue includes one bonus track, a remake of the 1950s single "Walking Through the Park". The other outtakes from the album sessions appear on King Bee. Margolin's notes state that the reissued album was remastered but that remixing was not considered to be necessary. Hard Again was the first studio collaboration between Muddy and Winter, who produced his final four albums, the others being I'm Ready, King Bee, and Muddy "Mississippi" Waters - Live, for Blue Sky, a Columbia Records subsidiary.
In 1978, Winter recruited two of Muddy's cohorts from the early 1950s, Big Walter Horton and Jimmy Rogers, and brought in the rest of his touring band at the time (harmonica player Jerry Portnoy, guitarist Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson, and bassist Calvin "Fuzz" Jones) to record I'm Ready, which came close to the critical and commercial success of Hard Again.
The comeback continued in 1979 with the lauded LP Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live. "Muddy was loose for this one," wrote Jas Obrecht in Guitar Player, "and the result is the next best thing to being ringside at one of his foot-thumping, head-nodding, downhome blues shows." On the album, Muddy is accompanied by his touring band, augmented by Johnny Winter on guitar. The set list contains most of his biggest hits, and the album has an energetic feel. King Bee the following year concluded Waters' reign at Blue Sky, and these last four LPs turned out to be his biggest-selling albums ever. King Bee was the last album Muddy Waters recorded. Coming last in a trio of studio outings produced by Johnny Winter, it is also a mixed bag. During the sessions for King Bee, Muddy, his manager and his band were involved in a dispute over money. According to the liner notes by Bob Margolin, the conflict arose from Muddy's health being on the wane and consequently playing fewer engagements. The bandmembers wanted more money for each of the fewer gigs they did play in order to make ends meet. Ultimately a split occurred and the entire band quit. Because of the tensions in the studio preceding the split, Winter felt the sessions had not produced enough solid material to yield an entire album, and filled out King Bee with outtakes from earlier Blue Sky sessions. The cover photograph is by David Michael Kennedy. For the listener, King Bee is a leaner and meaner record. Less of the good-time exuberance present on the previous two outings is present here. The title track, "Mean Old Frisco", "Sad Sad Day", and "I Feel Like Going Home", are all blues with ensemble work. The Sony Legacy issue features completely remastered sound and Margolin's notes, and also hosts two bonus tracks from the King Bee sessions that Winter did not see fit to release the first time.
In 1981, Muddy Waters was invited to perform at ChicagoFest, the city's top outdoor music festival. He was joined onstage by Johnny Winter—who had successfully produced his most recent albums—and played classics like "Mannish Boy," "Trouble No More" and "Mojo Working" to a new generation of fans. This historic performance was made available on DVD in 2009 by Shout! Factory. Later that year, Waters performed live with the Rolling Stones at the Checkerboard Lounge, with a DVD version of the concert released in 2012.[21]
In 1982, declining health dramatically curtailed Muddy's performance schedule. His last public performance took place when he sat in with Eric Clapton's band at a Clapton concert in Florida in autumn of 1982.[22]
Death
On April 30, 1983, Muddy Waters died in his sleep from heart failure, at his home in Westmont, Illinois. At his funeral at Restvale Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois, throngs of blues musicians and fans showed up to pay tribute to one of the true originals of the art form. "Muddy was a master of just the right notes," John P. Hammond, told Guitar World magazine. "It was profound guitar playing, deep and simple... more country blues transposed to the electric guitar, the kind of playing that enhanced the lyrics, gave profundity to the words themselves." Two years after his death, Chicago honored him by designating the one-block section between 900 and 1000 E. 43rd Street near his former home on the south side "Honorary Muddy Waters Drive".[23] The Chicago suburb of Westmont, where Muddy lived the last decade of his life, named a section of Cass Avenue near his home "Honorary Muddy Waters Way".[24] Following his death, fellow blues musician B.B. King told Guitar World, "It's going to be years and years before most people realize how greatly he contributed to American music". A Mississippi Blues Trail marker has been placed in Clarksdale, Mississippi, by the Mississippi Blues Commission designating the site of Muddy Waters' cabin.[25]
Influence
His influence is tremendous, over a variety of music genres: blues, rhythm and blues, rock 'n' roll, hard rock, folk, jazz, and country. He also helped Chuck Berry get his first record contract.
His 1958 tour of England marked possibly the first time amplified, modern urban blues was heard there, although on his first tour he was the only one amplified. His backing was provided by Englishman Chris Barber's trad jazz group.
His use of amplification is cited as "the technological missing link between Delta Blues and Rock 'N' Roll."[7] This is underlined in a 1968 article in Rolling Stone magazine: “There was a difference between Muddy’s instrumental work and that of House and Johnson, however, and the crucial difference was the result of Waters’ use of the electric guitar on his Aristocrat sides; he had taken up the instrument shortly after moving to Chicago in 1943.”[8]
The Rolling Stones named themselves after his 1950 song "Rollin' Stone" (also known as "Catfish Blues", which Jimi Hendrix covered as well). The magazine Rolling Stone also took its name from the same song. Hendrix recalled "the first guitar player I was aware of was Muddy Waters. I first heard him as a little boy and it scared me to death". Cream covered "Rollin' and Tumblin'" on their 1966 debut album Fresh Cream, as Eric Clapton was a big fan of Muddy Waters when he was growing up, and his music influenced Clapton's music career. The song was also covered by Canned Heat at the legendary Monterey Pop Festival and later adapted by Bob Dylan on the album Modern Times. One of Led Zeppelin's biggest hits, "Whole Lotta Love", is lyrically based upon the Muddy Waters hit "You Need Love", written by Willie Dixon. Dixon wrote some of Muddy Waters' most famous songs, including "I Just Want to Make Love to You" (a big radio hit for Etta James, as well as the 1970s rock band Foghat), "Hoochie Coochie Man", which The Allman Brothers Band famously covered (the song was also covered by Humble Pie and Steppenwolf), "Trouble No More" and "I'm Ready". In 1993, Paul Rodgers released the album Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters, on which he covered a number of Muddy Waters songs, including "Louisiana Blues", "Rollin' Stone", "Hoochie Coochie Man" and "I'm Ready" (among others) in collaboration with a number of famous guitarists including Gary Moore, Brian May and Jeff Beck.
Angus Young of the rock group AC/DC has cited Muddy Waters as one of his influences. The AC/DC song title "You Shook Me All Night Long" came from lyrics of the Muddy Waters song "You Shook Me", written by Willie Dixon and J. B. Lenoir. Earl Hooker first recorded it as an instrumental, which was then overdubbed with vocals by Muddy Waters in 1962. Led Zeppelin also covered it on their debut album.
Muddy Waters' songs have been featured in long-time fan Martin Scorsese's movies, including The Color of Money, Goodfellas and Casino. Muddy Waters' 1970s recording of his mid-'50s hit "Mannish Boy" (a.k.a. "I'm A Man") was used in Goodfellas, Better Off Dead, and the hit film Risky Business, and also features in the rockumentary The Last Waltz.
The song "Come Together" by The Beatles references Muddy Waters: "He roller coaster/he got Muddy Waters."
Van Morrison lyrics include "Muddy Waters singin', "I'm a Rolling Stone" from his 1982 song "Cleaning Windows", on the album Beautiful Vision.
American Stoner Metal band Bongzilla covered Muddy Water's song Champagne and Reefer on their album Amerijuanican.
In 2008, Jeffrey Wright portrayed Muddy in the biopic Cadillac Records, a film about the rise and fall of Chess Records and the lives of its recording artists. A second 2008 film about Leonard Chess and Chess Records, Who Do You Love, also covers Muddy's time at Chess Records.
In the 2009 film The Boat that Rocked (retitled Pirate Radio in the U.S) about pirate radio in the UK, the cryptic message that late-night DJ Bob gives to Carl to give to Carl's mother is: "Muddy Waters Rocks."
In 1990, the television show Doogie Howser, M.D. featured an episode called "Doogie Sings the Blues" with the main character, Blind Otis Lemon, based on Muddy Waters, with references to his influence on the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, along with the performance of "Got My Mojo Working" by Blind Otis Lemon. He is also referred to as the original "Hoochie Coochie Man".
Muddy's son Larry "Mud" Morganfield is a professional blues singer and musician.
Meilensteinalben Blues
Muddy Waters & The Rolling Stones - Baby Please Don't Go - Live At Checkerboard Lounge
Muddy Waters - Got My Mojo Workin'
Muddy Waters - Live Westfalenhallen, Dortmund, Germany 10/12/1978
01) Muddy Intro
02) Hoochie Coochie Man
03) Soon Forgotten (12th Of April)
04) Baby Please Don´t Go
05) They Call Me Muddy Waters
06) Walkin´ Thru The Park
07) Country Boy
08) Kansas City
09) Caledonia
10) Everything´s Gonna Be Alright
11) Mannish Boy
12) Hold It (instrumental)
13) Got My Mojo Working
14) Sweet Home Chicago
Personal:
Muddy Waters: Vocals, Electric Guitar
Pinetop Perkins: Piano
Jerry Portnoy: Harmonica
Luther "Guitar, Jr." Johnson: Guitar
Bob Margolin: Guitar
Calvin Jones: Bass
Willie "Big Eyes" Smith: Drums
02) Hoochie Coochie Man
03) Soon Forgotten (12th Of April)
04) Baby Please Don´t Go
05) They Call Me Muddy Waters
06) Walkin´ Thru The Park
07) Country Boy
08) Kansas City
09) Caledonia
10) Everything´s Gonna Be Alright
11) Mannish Boy
12) Hold It (instrumental)
13) Got My Mojo Working
14) Sweet Home Chicago
Personal:
Muddy Waters: Vocals, Electric Guitar
Pinetop Perkins: Piano
Jerry Portnoy: Harmonica
Luther "Guitar, Jr." Johnson: Guitar
Bob Margolin: Guitar
Calvin Jones: Bass
Willie "Big Eyes" Smith: Drums
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