McKinley Morganfield | Biography & History | AllMusic google+ Artist Biography by Bill Dahl A post-war Chicago blues scene without the magnificent contributions of McKinley Morganfield , better known as Muddy Waters , is absolutely unimaginable. From the late '40s on, he eloquently defined the city's aggressive, swaggering, Delta-rooted sound with his declamatory vocals and piercing slide guitar attack. When he passed away in 1983, the Windy City would never quite recover. Like many of his contemporaries on the Chicago circuit, Waters was a product of the fertile Mississippi Delta. Born McKinley Morganfield in Rolling Fork, he grew up in nearby Clarksdale on Stovall's Plantation. His idol was the powerful Son House , a Delta patriarch whose flailing slide work and intimidating intensity Waters would emulate in his own fashion. Musicologist Alan Lomax traveled through Stovall's in August of 1941 under the auspices of the Library of Congress, in search of new talent for the purpose of field recording. With the discovery of Morganfield , Lomax must have immediately known he'd stumbled across someone very special.

Setting up his portable recording rig in the Delta bluesman's house, Lomax captured for Library of Congress posterity Waters ' mesmerizing rendition of "I Be's Troubled," which became his first big seller when he recut it a few years later for the Chess brothers' Aristocrat logo as "I Can't Be Satisfied." Lomax returned the next summer to record his bottleneck-wielding find more extensively, also cutting sides by the Son Simms Four (a string band that Waters belonged to). Waters was renowned for his blues-playing prowess across the Delta, but that was about it until 1943, when he left for the bright lights of Chicago. A tiff with "the boss man" apparently also had a little something to do with his relocation plans. By the mid-'40s, Waters ' slide skills were becoming a recognized entity on Chicago's South side, where he shared a stage or two with pianists Sunnyland Slim and Eddie Boyd and guitarist Blue Smitty .

Producer Lester Melrose , who still had the local recording scene pretty much sewn up in 1946, accompanied Waters into the studio to wax a date for Columbia, but the urban nature of the sides didn't electrify anyone in the label's hierarchy and remained unissued for decades. Sunnyland Slim played a large role in launching the career of Muddy Waters . The pianist invited him to provide accompaniment for his 1947 Aristocrat session that would produce "Johnson Machine Gun." One obstacle remained beforehand: Waters had a day gig delivering Venetian blinds. But he wasn't about to let such a golden opportunity slip through his talented fingers. He informed his boss that a fictitious cousin had been murdered in an alley, so he needed a little time off to take care of business. When Sunnyland was finished that auspicious day, Waters sang a pair of numbers, "Little Anna Mae" and "Gypsy Woman," that would become his own Aristocrat debut 78.

They were rawer than the Columbia stuff, but not as inexorably down-home as "I Can't Be Satisfied" and its flip, "I Feel Like Going Home" (the latter was his first national R&B hit in 1948). With Big Crawford slapping the bass behind Waters ' gruff growl and slashing slide, "I Can't Be Satisfied" was such a local sensation that even Muddy Waters himself had a hard time buying a copy down on Maxwell Street. He assembled a band that was so tight and vicious on-stage that they were informally known as the Headhunters; they'd come into a bar where a band was playing, ask to sit in, and then "cut the heads" of their competitors with their superior musicianship. Little Walter , of course, would single-handedly revolutionize the role of the harmonica within the Chicago blues hierarchy; Jimmy Rogers was an utterly dependable second guitarist and Baby Face Leroy Foster could play both drums and guitar. On top of their instrumental skills, all four men could powerfully sing.

1951 found Waters climbing the R&B charts no less than four times, beginning with "Louisiana Blues" and continuing through "Long Distance Call," "Honey Bee," and "Still a Fool." Although it didn't chart, his 1950 classic "Rollin' Stone" provided a certain young British combo with a rather enduring name. Leonard Chess himself provided the incredibly unsubtle bass drum bombs on Waters ' 1952 smash "She Moves Me." "Mad Love," his only chart bow in 1953, is noteworthy as the first hit to feature the rolling piano of Otis Spann , who would anchor the Waters aggregation for the next 16 years. By this time, Foster was long gone from the band, but Rogers remained and Chess insisted that Walter -- by then a popular act in his own right -- make nearly every Waters session into 1958 (why breakup a winning combination?). There was one downside to having such a peerless band: As the ensemble work got tighter and more urbanized, Waters ' trademark slide guitar was largely absent on many of his Chess waxings. Willie Dixon was playing an increasingly important role in Muddy Waters ' success.

In addition to slapping his upright bass on Waters ' platters, the burly Dixon was writing one future bedrock standard after another for him: "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man," "Just Make Love to Me," and "I'm Ready"; all seminal performances and each blasted to the uppermost reaches of the R&B lists in 1954. When labelmate Bo Diddley borrowed Waters ' swaggering beat for his strutting "I'm a Man" in 1955, Muddy turned around and did him tit for tat by reworking the tune ever so slightly as "Mannish Boy" and enjoying his own hit. "Sugar Sweet," a pile-driving rocker with Spann 's 88s anchoring the proceedings, also did well that year. 1956 brought three more R&B smashes: "Trouble No More," "Forty Days & Forty Nights," and "Don't Go No Farther." But rock & roll was quickly blunting the momentum of veteran blues aces like Waters ; Chess was growing more attuned to the modern sounds of Chuck Berry , Bo Diddley , the Moonglows , and the Flamingos .

Ironically, it was Muddy Waters who had sent Berry to Chess in the first place. After that, there was only one more chart item, 1958's typically uncompromising (and metaphorically loaded) "Close to You." But Waters ' Chess output was still of uniformly stellar quality, boasting gems like "Walking Thru the Park" (as close as he was likely to come to mining a rock & roll groove) and "She's Nineteen Years Old," among the first sides to feature James Cotton 's harp instead of Walter 's, in 1958. That was also the year Muddy Waters and Spann made their first sojourn to England, where his electrified guitar horrified sedate Britishers accustomed to the folksy homilies of Big Bill Broonzy . Perhaps chagrined by the response, Waters paid tribute to Broonzy with a solid LP of his material in 1959. Cotton was apparently the bandmember who first turned Muddy on to "Got My Mojo Working," originally cut by Ann Cole in New York. Waters ' 1956 cover was pleasing enough but went nowhere on the charts.

But when the band launched into a supercharged version of the same tune at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival, Cotton and Spann put an entirely new groove to it, making it an instant classic (fortuitously, Chess was on hand to capture the festivities on tape). As the 1960s dawned, Waters ' Chess sides were sounding a trifle tired. Oh, the novelty thumper "Tiger in Your Tank" packed a reasonably high-octane wallop, but his adaptation of Junior Wells ' "Messin' With the Kid" (as "Messin' With the Man") and a less-than-timely "Muddy Waters Twist" were a long way removed indeed from the mesmerizing Delta sizzle that Waters had purveyed a decade earlier. Overdubbing his vocal over an instrumental track by guitarist Earl Hooker , Waters laid down an uncompromising "You Shook Me" in 1962 that was a step in the right direction. Drummer Casey Jones supplied some intriguing percussive effects on another 1962 workout, "You Need Love," which Led Zeppelin liked so much that they purloined it as their own creation later on.

In the wake of the folk-blues boom, Waters reverted to an acoustic format for a fine 1964 LP, Folk Singer , that found him receiving superb backing from guitarist Buddy Guy , Dixon on bass, and drummer Clifton James . In October, he ventured overseas again as part of the Lippmann and Rau-promoted American Folk Blues Festival, sharing the bill with Sonny Boy Williamson , Memphis Slim , Big Joe Williams , and Lonnie Johnson . The personnel of the Waters band was much more fluid during the 1960s, but he always whipped them into first-rate shape. Guitarists Pee Wee Madison , Luther "Snake Boy" Johnson , and Sammy Lawhorn , harpists Mojo Buford and George Smith , bassists Jimmy Lee Morris and Calvin "Fuzz" Jones , and drummers Francis Clay and Willie "Big Eyes" Smith (along with Spann , of course) all passed through the ranks. In 1964, Waters cut a two-sided gem for Chess, "The Same Thing"/"You Can't Lose What You Never Had," that boasted a distinct 1950s feel in its sparse, reflexive approach.

Most of his subsequent Chess catalog, though, is fairly forgettable. Worst of all were two horrific attempts to make him a psychedelic icon. 1968's Electric Mud forced Waters to ape his pupils via an unintentionally hilarious cover of the Stones ' "Let's Spend the Night Together" (session guitarist Phil Upchurch still cringes at the mere mention of this album). After the Rain was no improvement the following year. Partially salvaging this barren period in his discography was the Fathers and Sons project, also done in 1969 for Chess, which paired Muddy Waters and Spann with local youngbloods Paul Butterfield and Mike Bloomfield in a multigenerational celebration of legitimate Chicago blues. After a period of steady touring worldwide but little standout recording activity, Waters ' studio fortunes were resuscitated by another of his legion of disciples, guitarist Johnny Winter .

Signed to Blue Sky, a Columbia subsidiary, Waters found himself during the making of the first LP, Hard Again , backed by pianist Pinetop Perkins , drummer Willie Smith , and guitarist Bob Margolin from his touring band, Cotton on harp, and Winter 's slam-bang guitar, Waters roared like a lion who had just awoken from a long nap. Three subsequent Blue Sky albums continued the heartwarming back-to-the-basics campaign. In 1980, his entire combo split to form the Legendary Blues Band ; needless to note, he didn't have much trouble assembling another one (new members included pianist Lovie Lee , guitarist John Primer , and harpist Mojo Buford ). By the time of his death in 1983, Muddy Waters ' exalted place in the history of blues (and 20th century popular music, for that matter) was eternally assured. The Chicago blues genre that he turned upside down during the years following World War II would never recover, and that's a debt we'll never be able to repay.

Muddy Waters Birthplace Muddy Waters Birthplace Muddy Waters Birthplace - Rolling Fork McKinley Morganfield, better known as Muddy Waters, was one of the foremost artists in blues history. In the late 1940s and 1950s he led the way in transforming traditional Delta blues into the electric Chicago blues style that paved the road to rock 'n' roll. Waters was born in the Jug's Corner community of rural Issaquena County but always claimed Rolling Fork as his birthplace. His birth date has been cited as April 4, 1913, 1914, or 1915. His grandmother, Della Grant, nicknamed him “Muddy” because, as a baby on the Cottonwood Plantation near Mayersville, he loved to play in the mud. Childhood playmates tagged on “Water” or “Waters” a few years later. His father, Ollie Morganfield, was a sharecropper in the Rolling Fork area who also entertained at local blues affairs.

But Waters was raised by his grandmother, who moved to the Stovall Plantation near Clarksdale when he was still a young child, and his influences were Delta musicians such as Son House, Robert Johnson, and Robert Nighthawk. Muddy first played harmonica with Stovall guitarist Scott Bohanner, but took up guitar under the older musician's tutelage, and later performed with another mentor, blues legend Big Joe Williams. He also played in a string band, the Son Sims Four, and drove a tractor on the Stovall Plantation, where he ran a juke joint out of his house. Waters did his first recordings at Stovall in 1941-42 for a Library of Congress team led by Alan Lomax and John Work III. In 1943 he moved to Chicago, and by the end of the decade he was setting the pace on the competitive Chicago blues scene. The city was loaded with freshly arriving talent from Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana as southern farm workers continued to migrate to the alleged “promised land” of the north.

Many of the finest musicians, including harmonica player Little Walter Jacobs, pianist Otis Spann, and guitarist Jimmy Rogers, worked in the seminal Muddy Waters Blues Band, which virtually defined the Chicago blues genre. Both through his recordings on the Aristocrat and Chess labels and through his sensual and electrifying live performances, he not only became a blues icon but a godfather to generations of rock 'n' roll bands, as he expanded his audience from the African American clubs of Chicago's South and West sides to Europe and beyond. The Rolling Stones recorded several of his songs and took their name from one of his early records, “Rollin' Stone.” Jazz, R&B, country & western, and hip hop artists have used his material as well. Other Muddy Waters classics, many written by Vicksburg native Willie Dixon, include “Got My Mojo Working,” “Manish Boy,” “I Just Want to Make Love to You,” “Hoochie Coochie Man,” and “I'm Ready.” Waters returned to visit or perform in Mississippi on occasion, and appeared at the Greenville V.F.W., the Ole Miss campus, and the 1981 Delta Blues Festival.

A recipient of multiple Grammy awards, charter member of the Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame, and 1987 inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Muddy Waters died in his sleep on April 30, 1983, at his home in Westmont, Illinois. content © Mississippi Blues Commission Muddy Waters - Music on Google Play Muddy Waters About the artist McKinley Morganfield, known by his stage name Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician who is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago blues". Muddy Waters grew up on Stovall Plantation, near Clarksdale, Mississippi, and by age 17 was playing the guitar and the harmonica, emulating local blues artists Son House and Robert Johnson. He was recorded in Mississippi by Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress in 1941. In 1943, he moved to Chicago to become a full-time, professional musician. In 1946, Muddy Waters eventually recorded his first record for Columbia Records and then for Aristocrat Records, a newly formed label run by the brothers Leonard and Phil Chess.

In the early 1950s, Muddy Waters and his band—Little Walter Jacobs on harmonica, Jimmy Rogers on guitar, Elgin Evans on drums and Otis Spann on piano—recorded several blues classics, some with bassist and songwriter Willie Dixon. These songs included "Hoochie Coochie Man", "I Just Want to Make Love to You" and "I'm Ready". In 1958, he traveled to England, laying the foundations of the subsequent blues boom there. 1 $9.99 King Bee is the fourteenth and final studio album by blues singer and guitarist Muddy Waters. Released in 1981, it is third in a series of records done for the label Blue Sky Records under producer... 1 1 $9.99 I'm Ready is the thirteenth studio album by Chicago blues veteran Muddy Waters. The second of Waters' Johnny Winter-produced albums for the Blue Sky Records label, I'm Ready was issued one year aft... 1 1 $8.99 Hard Again is the twelfth studio album by Muddy Waters. It was recorded by producer Johnny Winter.

Released on January 10, 1977, Hard Again was Muddy's first album on the Blue Sky label after leavi... 1 Howlin' Wolf 0 Chester Arthur Burnett, known as Howlin' Wolf, was a Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, originally from Mississippi. With a booming voice and looming physical presence, he is one... 0 John Lee Hooker 0 John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues. Hooker often... 0 B.B. King 0 Riley B. King, known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer, electric guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. King introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid ... 0 Little Walter 0 Marion Walter Jacobs, known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica and impact on succeeding generations earned him c... 0 Robert Johnson 0 Robert Leroy Johnson was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician.

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He later changed it to "Muddy Water" and finally "Muddy Waters". Waters was born McKinley Morganfield in Issaquena County, Mississippi in 1913 (He later told people that he was born in 1915 in Rolling Fork, Mississippi; the reason for this remains unknown). His grandmother Della Grant raised him after his mother died in 1918. Waters started out on harmonica but by age seventeen he was playing the guitar at parties and "fish fries", emulating two blues artists who were extremely popular in the south, Son House and Robert Johnson. "His thick heavy voice, the dark coloration of his tone and his firm almost solid personality were all clearly derived from House," wrote Peter Guralnick in Feel Like Going Home, but the embellishments which he added, the imaginative slide technique and more agile rhythms, were closer to Johnson." In 1940 Waters moved to St. Louis before playing with Silas Green a year later and returning back to Mississippi. In the early part of the decade he ran a juke house, complete with gambling, moonshine, a jukebox and live music courtesy of Muddy himself.

In the Summer of 1941 Alan Lomax came 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," Waters 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.'" Lomax came back again in July of 1942 to record Waters again. Both sessions were eventually released as Down On Stovall's Plantation on the Testament label. In 1943 Waters headed north to Chicago in hopes of becoming a full-time professional. He lived with a relative for a short period while driving a truck and working in a factory by day and playing at night.

Big Bill Broonzy was the leading bluesman in Chicago until his death in 1958 and the city was a very competitive market for a newcomer to become established. Broonzy helped Waters out by letting him open Broonzy's show in the rowdy clubs. In 1945 Waters's uncle gave him his first electric guitar, which enabled him to be heard above the noisy crowds. In 1946 Waters recorded some tunes for Mayo Williams at Columbia but they were never released. Later that year he began recording for Aristocrat, a newly-formed label run by two brothers, Leonard and Phil Chess. In 1947 Waters played guitar with Sunnyland Slim on piano on the cuts "Gypsy Woman" and "Little Anna Mae." These were also shelved, but in 1948 Waters's "I Can't Be Satisfied" and "I Feel Like Going Home" became big and his popularity in clubs began to take off. Soon after, Aristocrat changed their name to Chess and Waters's signature tune, "Rollin' Stone", became a smash hit.

The Chess brothers would not allow Waters to use his own musicians (Jimmy Rogers and Blue Smitty) in the studio; instead he was only provided with a backing bass by Big Crawford. However, by 1952 Waters was recording with perhaps the best blues group ever: Little Walter Jacobs on harmonica; Jimmy Rogers on guitar; Elgin Evans on drums; Otis Spann on piano; Big Crawford on bass; and Waters handling vocals and second guitar. The band recorded a string of blues classics during the early 1950s with the help of bassist/songwriter Willie Dixon. "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." Waters reigned over the 1950s Chicago blues scene; he was its most popular artist and led its tightest band, fueled by hits from Willie Dixon, its strongest composer. On all these fronts, however, Waters contended with fierce competition from the gravel-voiced singer Howlin' Wolf. Wolf's band rivaled Waters's all-star lineup, notably featuring the now-legendary guitarist Hubert Sumlin. Wolf also competed with Waters for the songwriting attention of Willie Dixon and recorded a large number of Dixon tunes. Nonetheless, Waters consistently retained an edge in popularity and esteem. Both Waters and Wolf are held in immense regard by modern rock and blues aficionados, but Waters scored far more chart hits and is generally considered to be the more commercially successful and the more well-known of the two; especially to the casual listener. By 1954, Waters was at the height of his career.

"By the time he achieved his popular peak, Muddy Waters had become a shouting, declamatory kind of singer who had forsaken his guitar as a kind of anachronism and whose band played with a single pulsating rhythm," wrote Guralnick in his Listener's Guide. The success of Waters'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 (although he would continue to play on Muddy's recording sessions until the late '50s), and in 1955 Rogers quit to work exclusively with his own band, which had been a sideline until that time. Waters could never recapture the glory of his pre-1956 years as the pressures of being a leader led him to use various studio musicians for quite a few years thereafter. He 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 & Brownie McGhee and Big Bill Broonzy) with loud, amplified electric guitar and a thunderous beat.

His performance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1960, which was recorded and released as his first live album (see At Newport 1960), helped to turn on a whole new generation to Waters' sound. He expressed dismay when he realized that members of his own race were turning their backs to the genre while a Caucasian audience had shown increasing respect for the blues. A major inspiration for the British beat explosion in the 1960s. However, for the better part of twenty years (since his last big hit in 1956, "I'm Ready") Waters 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 1972 he went back to England to record The London Muddy Waters Sessions with four hotshot rockers—Rory Gallagher, Steve Winwood, Rick Grech, and Mitch Mitchell — but their playing wasn't 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." Waters's sound was basically Delta country blues electrified, but his use of microtones, in both his vocals and slide playing, made it extremely difficult to duplicate and follow correctly. "When I plays onstage with my band, I have to get in there with my guitar and try to bring the sound down to me," he said in Rolling Stone. "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." In 1977 Johnny Winter convinced his label, Blue Sky, to sign Waters, the beginning of a fruitful partnership. Waters's "comeback" LP, Hard Again, was recorded in just two days and was a return to original Chicago sound he had created 25 years earlier. Producer/guitarist Winter pushed Waters to his limit. Former Waters sideman James Cotton contributed harmonica on the Grammy Award-winning album and a brief but well received tour followed.

"He sounds happy, energetic and out for business," stated Dan Oppenheimer in Rolling Stone. "In short, Muddy Waters is kicking in another mule's stall." The importance of Muddy Waters' 1977 album Hard Again cannot be overstated, and its place as a near universal favorite in the Muddy Waters catalog is no mistake. Recorded in the last decade of his life, it was the first studio collaboration between Waters and guitarist Johnny Winter, who acted as producer on his last four albums – the others are I'm Ready, King Bee, and Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live – for Blue Sky, a Columbia subsidiary. The true revelation here is Waters, whose vigor and fire are renewed; he's hungry for the music and completely in possession of his prowess and power as the true King of the Blues. At 64, Waters was revving up for one final go and Winter recorded him like the champ he was. The Muddy Waters Blues Band was one of the crack outfits on the scene at the time and included guitarist Bob Margolin, pianist Pinetop Perkins, and drummer Willie "Big Eyes" Smith were on this session.

Winter was on board playing guitar in addition to producing, and Waters asked James Cotton to play harp on the session and he brought his bassist Charles Calmese for the date. According to Margolin's amazingly warm and informative anecdotal liner notes, Waters never picked up his guitar during these sessions. It hardly matters, from the opening roar of "Mannish Boy," with shouts and hollers throughout, with incendiary guitars 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," Hard Again is rock solid. Its live feel heralds back to the Chess days, and its cooperative musicianship and intimate, good time vibe have rarely been replicated since that time – and never on a major label. The expanded reissue includes one bonus track, an outtake called "Walking Through the Park," that could have been part of the original album without a problem – the other outtake ended up on King Bee. Margolin's notes state that while the album has been remastered, it was not remixed because its sound holds up.

This has the feel of an old-time blues record and the listener can hear – even on CD – the sound of the wood room it was recorded in as well as the camaraderie of the players. Hard Again showcased Waters as a blues lion, and in its grooves lies all the evidence for the legend he remains. In 1978 Winter recruited Muddy's cohorts from the early '50s Walter Horton and Jimmy Rogers, and brought in the rest of Muddy's touring band at the time (harmonica player Jerry Portnoy, guitarist Luther Johnson, and bassist Calvin Jone) to record Waters's I'm Ready LP, 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." Accompanied by Johnny Winter and his band, Muddy Waters turns in an enthusiastic performance on Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live.

The set list contains most of his biggest hits, and the sound quality and performances are mostly energetic. Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live is a nice addition to the Muddy Waters catalog, but it's not nearly as essential as his earlier work. King Bee the following year concluded Water's reign at Blue Sky and all 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 triumphant studio outings, and produced by Johnny Winter, it is also a mixed bag. During the sessions for King Bee, Waters, his manager, and his band were all in dispute over money. According to the liner notes by Bob Margolin, the conflict arose from Waters' health being on the wane and him playing less. The bandmembers wanted more money for the fewer gigs they did play in order to make ends meet. Ultimately a split occurred and the 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. He subsequently filled out King Bee with outtakes from the Hard Again sessions. For the listener, King Bee is a leaner and meaner record.

None of the good-time exuberance present on the previous two outings is present here. This is blues, direct and immediate, a snarling, growling album. The title track, "Mean Old Frisco," "Sad Sad Day," and "I Feel Like Going Home," are all solid, razor-sharp blues with killer ensemble work and Waters in fine voice. The Sony Legacy issue features completely remastered sound and Margolin's candid notes, but it also hosts two bonus tracks from the King Bee sessions that Winter didn't see fit to release the first time. There's a redo of "I Won't Go Down," a cut from the '50s that Waters sings in his lower baritone roar, and "Clouds in My Heart," a deep, long, sad blues that is one of the great unearthed treasures in Waters catalog. This cut alone with all of its deep emotion and the sound of a band trying to hold the storm of emotions in check and failing is a masterpiece and one of the most amazing blues tunes of the last 30 years. While King Bee may have been considered last and least of Waters' Columbia albums, it is more than worth reconsidering.

In 1983 Waters died peacefully and unexpectedly in his sleep, aged 70. At his funeral, throngs of blues musicians 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 Hammond Jr., told Guitar World. "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." Following Waters's death, B.B. King told Guitar World, "It's going to be years and years before most people realize how great he was to American music." Two years after his death, the city that made Muddy Waters (and vice versa) honored their father by changing the name of 43rd Street to Muddy Waters Drive. He is the father of blues musicians Big Bill Morganfield and Larry "Mud Morganfield" Williams. Attesting to the historic place of Muddy Waters in the development of the blues in Mississippi, a Mississippi Blues Trail marker has been placed in Clarksdale by the Mississippi Blues Commission designating the site of Muddy Waters' cabin to commemorate his importance.

Grammy Awards Muddy Waters Sheet Music - Download Printable Music - OnlineSheetMusic.com Home » Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield, better known as Muddy Waters, is a blues musician from Mississippi. Despite his state of origin, he is known as the “Father of Chicago Blues.” He was given the nickname “Muddy” by his grandmother because he liked to play in the muddy water of a nearby creek. He later extended his alias to “Muddy Waters.” Download and print Muddy Waters sheet music below. Sort by Search within in this page: Search MuddyWater Father of the Chicago Blues Born April 4th, 1913 Issaquena County Mississippi Died April 30th, 1983 Westmont Illinois Nicknames Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield was born in Mississippi but that's where it gets complicated. According to McKinley via interviews he was born in 1915. But most research points to April 4th 1913 in Jugs Corner Mississippi in Issaquena County as the Birth place and date for McKinley Morganfield. Morganfield was born to Berta Grant sometime during her teen years. Father Ollie Morganfield never married.

As often happened with teen pregnancies out of wedlock during this era it fell to a grandparent to raise the child. In this case that grandparent was Della Grant, Berta's mother.I twas she who gave Morganfield his nickname because the boy was always playing in nearby Deer Creek. Della called the boy Muddy Water- the s at the end was added later. Ollie Morganfield never married Berta and Berta died soon after McKinley's birth. His father was an entertainer at local rural parties picking on a guitar or scratching a washboard. Muddy Waters himself started with an old kerosene can as a drum, an accordion and a jews harp. But finally he met his destiny by building his first guitar out of a box and some sticks. By thirteen he had mastered the harmonica which he had been playing since he was 7. But it was the music of the region that reached into him and would ultimately propel him out of the south. One of Muddy's earliest and most important influences was Son House who played bottleneck slide guitar. Other regional early influences included artists with great names like Blind Lemon Jefferson, Texas Alexander, Barbeque Bob and blues great Charlie Patton.

But it was Son House that really got Muddy going on his path: "I was there every night, close to him. You couldn't get me out of that corner, listening to him. I watched that man's fingers and look like to me he was so good he was unlimited." At 17 Muddy sold the last family horse for $15.00 and gave half the money to his Della Grant. Out of his half he took $2.50 to buy his first proper guitar- a second hand Stella. On the first night he played he made .50¢ playing at a an all night joint. But it wasn't long before he had saved up enough to buy a guitar through the Sears and Roebuck catalog. Muddy Waters main occupation at the time was picking cotton which earned him .50¢ a day as well, but he also supplemented that with Trapping furs and bootlegging whiskey. Soon Muddy was working for himself providing the music and whiskey for his own shindigs with no middle man to take most of the gate.

When cotton was not in season Muddy hopped the rails to play around the region with such blues notables as Robert Nighthawk, Sonny Boy Williamson and Big Joe Williams. This period of Muddy's life is what is commonly referred to as paying ones dues. With little money coming in from any one endeavor Muddy had branched out and was starting to build a network of like minded musicians with whom he could play, many of whom would have varying degrees fame in their own right. But change would again shift his focus and direction. In November of 1932 Muddy married Mabel Berry.With Robert Nighthawk playing guitar at the wedding the party reportedly got so wild that the floor fell through. This could also be a metaphor for Muddy's married life. He was just not the stay at home husband type. and so his boot heels were wondering again. Mabel left Muddy when his firs child was born to another woman, Leola Spain who was 16 at the time. The two never married but Muddy did take a second wife just before he moved to Chicago for the first time. The Girls name was Sallie Anne. But soon the pull of the Road was again working on Muddy Waters.

Going to Chicago was risky business and Muddy was reluctant to leave his grandmother Della who had raised him. Up to this point he had been a local wanderer but never too far from home. Chicago held the prospect of reaching a much wider audience but the risk and competition was also much greater with no support network to fall back upon. When Robert Nighthawk first suggested they go to Chicago Muddy thought he was joking, saying at one point the thought of going there was like ..."going out of the world", But when Robert Nighthawk went and ended up with a record in fairly short order it was harder for Muddy to resist the call. Muddy's first attempt to relocate to Chicago came in 1940 when he played with Silas Green. He didn't stick in the local music scene though and returned to Mississippi a year later. In the interim, Alan Lomax came to Stovall, Mississippi to record Muddy Waters on behalf of the Library of Congress. Lomax was documenting American Music particularly in rural areas that did not see the light of the studio recording industry.

the Muddy Waters sessions were later released to the public along with a second recording session that Lomax did in 1942 as "Down on Stovall's Plantation" & later were rerelased as the "Muddy Waters: the Complete Plantation Recordings" on CD. In 1943 Muddy Waters again moved to Chicago. There he hoped to finally become a full time professional musician. He lived with a relative briefly while working in a factory and driving a truck by day and playing at night. One of the leading blues men of the day Big Bill Broonzy helped Muddy break into the incredibly competitive blues scene in Chicago by having him as an opening act for his own band. One of the most fateful moments in both blues and Muddy's career came when Muddy's maternal uncle, Joe Grant gave Muddy an electric guitar so he could be heard over the noise of crowded rooms. This was the genesis of the Chicago Blues sound. A quick word about The Blues... The roots of the Blues can be traced to several different forms of rural accoustic music and the symbiotic relationship with Gospel or as it was known at the time church music.

since instruments were not always commonly available a lot of the development took place in the vocal realm. what instruments that were available were often old and beaten up or home made. With the advent of electric instruments the character of the music changed. The Chicago Blues Sound is what happened to delta blues when it got electrified. Not only did the volume change but the tonal treatment and options became a new playground for a group of pioneering musicians who were eager to take advantage of the new technology. Soon the newly electrified Muddy waters was getting opportunities for studio work, recording for Mayo Williams at Columbia Records in 1946. Later that year Muddy signed with Aristocrat Records which would become the famous Blues label Chess Records that was so important to black musician in the middle of the 20th century. Finally Muddy Waters had his first real hit with his signature song Rollin' Stone . The Song was the inspiration for a British band's name that some of you may have heard of... Yes it is those Rolling Stones. Now Muddy Waters stood on the threshold of his own success. But at first Chess Records wanted Muddy to perform with their own choice of hand picked musicians rather than his own performing band.

These musicians included Earnest "Big" Crawford on Bass, "Baby Face" Leroy Foster on Drums and Little Johnny Jones on piano. Eventually in their wisdom Chess records got out of the way. by September 1953 Muddy had collected one of the most impressive groups of Blues musicians anywhere. this group included Little Walter Jacobs on harmonica, Jimmy Rogers on guitar, Elga Edmonds (a.k.a. Elgin Evans) on drums and Otis Spann on piano. This band would produce some of the best known blues songs in history, some with blues great Willie Dixon. Song like "Hoochie Coochie Man", "I Just Want to Make Love to You" and "I'm Ready" not only helped to define the Chicago Blues sound but also became hits for multiple artists. As Muddy's Popularity started to soar he developed a good natured rivalry with Howlin' Wolf Who also enjoyed a large share of the blues market along with former blues harp player Little Walter Jacobs. The two blues men did a couple of sessions in the studio that showed their boisterous personae as they trade barbs back and forth while playing some of their more famous songs.

But with success came the solo careers of other band members in the time honored music industry tradition- learn form the band (or band leader in many cases) then strike out on your own. at the same time Muddy Waters scored a couple of crossover hits in the Rock & Roll market with "Mannish Boy" & Sugar Sweet. By this time Muddy Waters was attracting the attention of an international audience, in particular some up and coming musicians in Great Britain The first step in the British invasion of the 1960s wasn't in the 60s at all. It was in 1958 when Muddy brought his electric blues sound to a London audience that had previously only experienced the acoustic delta blues Sonny Terry , Big Bill Broonzy and Brownie McGhee . The impact on artists like the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and other famous British Invasion bands can not be under estimated. But the great irony about this period is that for a decade Muddy Waters own label chess Records put him on the back burner. While he still continued to record for Chess he wasn't the star in their eyes that he had been in the early and mid fifties. But Muddy Waters just kept on keepin' on.

In 1968 he released Electric Mud with the Rotary Connection , a psychadelic band formed in Chicago circa 1966 at the behest of Marshal Chess son of Chess records founder Leonard Chess . The idea was tohelp revive Muddy's career by exploring a fusion between the new psychedelic music that was emerging and the Electric Blues of Chicago. The Album made it two 127 on the charts. But the test of time has chosen the other project from the late 60s as the one most remember from this period, the rollicking twin albums the "Super Blues" & "the Super Super Blues Band" that reunited Muddy with Little Walter and Howlin' Wolf. Both projects had their impact. The Electric Mud album brought more blues influences to the psychedelic movement while the Super blues pair of albums became cult favorites for many blues fans for years after. Slowly Muddy Waters was regaining and enhancing his standing as one of the pillars of the Blues community. In he late sixties there was indeed a blues renaissance and Muddy Waters was one of the driving forces behind it along with Howlin' Wolf and Willy Dixon. So now it was time at the back end of the British invasion era to return to London.

Muddy Water recorded The London Muddy Waters Sessions with Rory Gallagher , Steve Winwood (Blind Faith Traffic), Rick Grech (Blind Faith) and Mitch Mitchell (Jimmy Hendrix Experience). This Super group only recorded for this session but the memembers would go on to display various influences in their music. Rory Gallagher, in particular, was heavily influenced by the the electric blues of this era. While the session held both the novelty of pairing these musicians together and some downright good playing it was not what moved Muddy. Mr. Waters acknowledged the talent of the band members and there performance but as he put it- "These boys are top musicians, they can play with me, put the book before 'em and play it, you know, 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." In the end the crossover projects did boost Muddy Waters' popularity, but tragedy struck again as Muddy Waters lost his long time wife Geneva. Muddy was devastated, but within a short time after he also was introduced to his son Big Bill Morganfield after a gig in Florida.

Big Bill is a blues musician of some talent as well and is still touring to this day. Also in Florida at this time Muddy met his future wife, Marva Jean Brooks whom he called sunshine. Clapton served as Best Man at his wedding. Finally during this time Muddy bought his home in Westmont Illinois giving him a real home base that was truly his own. In 1976 The Band , who formed as a backing band for Bob Dylan, was holding their farewell concert at the famed Winterland Arena . The show was an Allstar affair Titled " the Last Waltz " that is available on DVD and CD/download featuring a wide variety of musicians. For Muddy it kept him in the consciousness of an American public that was starting to fade away from the Blues Renaissance of the last five years or so. In 1977 one year later Johnny Winter convinced Blue Sky records to sign Muddy to a deal that led to the Hard Again album. This collection of tunes was a return to the Chicago roots and brought back former side man James Cotton . Cotton also toured on the brief tour that followed. The album itself won a Grammy. Muddy Waters continued to play with some great musicians albeit from closer to home turf in Chicago.

These included Sammy Lawhorn , Steady Rollin' Bob Margolin and Luther "Snake Boy" Johnson , pianist Pinetop Perkins , harmonica player Jerry Portnoy , bassist Calvin "Fuzz" Jones and drummer Willie "Big Eyes" Smith . With James Cotton Playing Blues Harp through the session and his bass player Charles Calmese sitting in The over all feel of the album is of the early chess Records recordings. On "Mannish Boy" There are hoots and shouts through out the song. The delta blues feel of "I Can't Be Satisfied" is complimented by the steel guitar solo. "The Blues had a Baby" has become a classic. But despite the Chicago feel of the album Muddy's early delta influences shine through. The Back to roots trend continued in 1978 when Johnny Winter recruited Muddy's old buddy's Big Walter Horton and Jimmy Rogers. Winter 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). Now the Band was set to record Muddy's second album for Blue Sky Records, "I'm Ready".

The mix of musicians was a critical part of the continued success and Johnny Winter's hand in the production, not to mention the name he had earned for himself, gave the album a certain resonance for the youth of the era that were just discovering the breadth of the blues. After two successful albums with Blue Sky records there was no reason to change. For "Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live" the only change was that Johnny Winter sat in on guitar. The Album itself was a walk through many of his earliest hits. Muddy was getting quite comfortable with the current lineup and arrangement in general. The feel of the album shows this. As Jas Obrecht of guitar player magazine put it- "the result is the next best thing to being ringside at one of his foot-thumping, head-nodding, down home blues shows." The Final Album in several terms was "King Bee". In contrast to the harmony and simpatico of the first three albums. The Band and Muddy were going through a dispute with the Bands manager. the problem was that Muddy's health was quickly declining. This meant fewer shows to support the album which put a strain on the bands finances.

The Band wanted more money per gig to make ends meet but management would here none of it and in the end, the band quit. Muddy felt the studio sessions, being marred by the acrimony did not produce enough solid material for a full album. The solution was to fill out the album with outtakes from other Blue Sky sessions. The result was a more economical straight forward feel. When all was said and done at Blue Sky, Muddy had capped his most successful run of his career with three solid studio album and a very well regarded live album. these were his most commercially successful works and guaranteed his legacy. They were also a great cross section of what it meant to be Muddy Waters. But sadly the curtain was starting to descend upon his stage. Muddy Waters health continued to decline. On April 30th, 1983 McKinley Morganfield, AKA Muddy Waters died in his sleep of heart failure in his home at Westmont Illinois. Literally throngs of Blues musicians showed up at his funeral to pay tribute to the man who shaped the Chicago blues sound and still remind true to his delta roots.

The number of musicians he has influenced were not limited by genre or geography and this world would have been a very different place without the music of Muddy Waters... Ten Story Image of Muddy Waters Overlooks Chicago’s Loop | BG - Blues And Music News Ten Story Image of Muddy Waters Overlooks Chicago’s Loop May 20, 2016 Editor’s note: This article, written by JD Nash, originally appeared in American Blues Scene. Just a few days ago, work began on a 100 ft. tall mural depicting the “Father of the Modern Chicago Blues,” Mr. McKinley Morganfield, better known to millions as Muddy Waters . The project is a joint campaign of world-renowned Brazilian street artist Eduardo Kobra, the Wabash Arts Corridor “Big Walls” Project, building owner Anne Voshel and Columbia College Chicago to beautify blank walls in the Windy City. When complete, it will cover the iconic GO DO GOOD mural by Kay Rosen that was unveiled at 17 N. State Street on May 24th, 2011.

Photo: Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune Waters was selected due to his contributions to the Chicago Blues scene beginning when he arrived from Mississippi in the early 1940s and continuing until his death in Westmont 40 years later. Waters’ profound influence on several genres of popular music as well as his creation of a direct link between Delta Blues and Rock ‘N’ Roll has made him one of Chicago’s favorite adopted sons. Columbia College’s Mark Kelly recognizes Waters as a “cultural hero” and hopes that the mural will become as recognizable as other Chicago art, including the Picasso sculpture in Daley Plaza or Millennium Park’s Cloud Gate, more commonly known as “The Bean.” Kobra is known for his mural portraits that utilize shape repetition to create their images as he is doing here using a pattern of triangles to create the rainbow colored likeness of Waters. Other famous images of his creation include Bob Marley, Abraham Lincoln and the World War II sailor kissing the nurse in Times Square on V-J Day. The work on this monumental project is scheduled to be completed this week and is being financed by the building’s owner who is paying for the paint and rigging and by Columbia College who is financing Kobra’s stay.

Mud Morganfield (eldest Son Of Muddy Waters) | The List Mud Morganfield (eldest Son Of Muddy Waters) This listing is from a previous year. Search for current listings . The 1865 are very pleased to welcome back Mud Morganfield - son of the undisputed king of the blues! In 1954, the eldest son of blues great McKinley Morganfield, otherwise known as Muddy Waters, Mud Morganfield (who has also gone by the name Muddy Waters Jr.), was born. He naturally grew up surrounded by music, and particularly the blues, and he's played music all of his life, starting with the drums his dad gave him as a child, then moving on to the bass guitar. Supporting himself as a truck driver, just like his father did when he was first starting out, Morganfield didn't seriously consider being a professional blues musician until after Waters' death in 1983, by which time Morganfield was already close to 30.

Possessing a baritone voice very much like his father's, and blessed with a similar sense of vocal phrasing and a sense of how to command a stage, Morganfield made up for lost time, cutting his teeth in the southside Chicago clubs where he was soon a popular draw on the blues club and festival circuit; he mixed both original songs and Muddy Waters classics into his live sets. Morganfield has described the resemblance of the tone and timber of his voice to that of his father's voice as a double edged sword. The similarity is evident in For Pops: A Tribute To Muddy Waters, an album on which Morganfield performs several Muddy Waters songs. Regarding his performances of Muddy Waters songs in addition to his own material, Morganfield says, I started to sing to show the world that dad left me here. I love and am proud to sing his songs just like I love and will always be proud of him. I'm not Muddy Waters and I'm certainly not trying to be Muddy Waters. I'm Mud Morganfield but when I'm up on stage I always feel pops is there with me and it means so much that I can get on stage and keep his music alive around the world.

In May 2015, his album, For Pops: A Tribute To Muddy Waters, won a Blues Music Award in the 'Traditional Blues Album' category. He's the closest thing to Muddy I have ever heard. A real chip off the ole block. He's got the genes. His pipes are just like Muddy. I heard him sing Elevate Me Mama and I got chills up my back. Paul Oscher Muddy Waters' harp player 1967-1971 Mud Morganfield is a modern miracle. Its as if his father, the great Muddy Waters, is still with us through his son. Mud has it all; the voice, the persona, the swagger, the earnest humility and the desire. He can recreate the spirit of his dad and still maintain his own individuality through his great original songs. I have the privilege of working with Mud as a producer, harmonica player and a trusted friend and adviser. I put my bet on Mud Morganfield as we watch his career blossom and his popularity grow. Go Mud! Bob Corritore 2012 I've known Mud Morganfield since he was born, I am his godfather.

It is good to see him where he belongs, on the stage carrying on in the tradition of his father, Muddy Waters. I've played with both of them now and Mud looks and sounds like Muddy almost to the point of it being spooky! I know he'll do well and I look forward to playing with him again in the future. James Cotton Former Muddy Waters Harmonica player Mud is a dynamic performer and entertainer that can command the stage, engage the crowd, and wow them with some of the best true Chicago Blues they have ever seen. Text supplied by third party. McKinley Morganfield - Listen to Free Music by McKinley Morganfield on Pandora Internet Radio more McKinley Morganfield A post-war Chicago blues scene without the magnificent contributions of McKinley Morganfield, better known as Muddy Waters , is absolutely unimaginable. From the late '40s on, he eloquently defined the city's aggressive, swaggering, Delta-rooted sound with his declamatory vocals and piercing slide guitar attack. When he passed away in 1983, the Windy City would never quite recover. Like many of his contemporaries on the Chicago circuit, Waters was a product of the fertile Mississippi Delta.

Born McKinley Morganfield in Rolling Fork, he grew up in nearby Clarksdale on Stovall's Plantation. His idol was the powerful Son House , a Delta patriarch whose flailing slide work and intimidating intensity Waters would emulate in his own fashion. Musicologist Alan Lomax traveled through Stovall's in August of 1941 under the auspices of the Library of Congress, in search of new talent for the purpose of field recording. With the discovery of Morganfield, Lomax must have immediately known he'd stumbled across someone very special. Setting up his portable recording rig in the Delta bluesman's house, Lomax captured for Library of Congress posterity Waters ' mesmerizing rendition of "I Be's Troubled," which became his first big seller when he recut it a few years later for the Chess brothers' Aristocrat logo as "I Can't Be Satisfied." Lomax returned the next summer to record his bottleneck-wielding find more extensively, also cutting sides by the Son Simms Four (a string band that Waters belonged to). Waters was renowned for his blues-playing prowess across the Delta, but that was about it until 1943, when he left for the bright lights of Chicago.

A tiff with "the boss man" apparently also had a little something to do with his relocation plans. By the mid-'40s, Waters ' slide skills were becoming a recognized entity on Chicago's South side, where he shared a stage or two with pianists Sunnyland Slim and Eddie Boyd and guitarist Blue Smitty. Producer Lester Melrose, who still had the local recording scene pretty much sewn up in 1946, accompanied Waters into the studio to wax a date for Columbia, but the urban nature of the sides didn't electrify anyone in the label's hierarchy and remained unissued for decades. Sunnyland Slim played a large role in launching the career of Muddy Waters . The pianist invited him to provide accompaniment for his 1947 Aristocrat session that would produce "Johnson Machine Gun." One obstacle remained beforehand: Waters had a day gig delivering Venetian blinds. But he wasn't about to let such a golden opportunity slip through his talented fingers. He informed his boss that a fictitious cousin had been murdered in an alley, so he needed a little time off to take care of business.

When Sunnyland was finished that auspicious day, Waters sang a pair of numbers, "Little Anna Mae" and "Gypsy Woman," that would become his own Aristocrat debut 78. They were rawer than the Columbia stuff, but not as inexorably down-home as "I Can't Be Satisfied" and its flip, "I Feel Like Going Home" (the latter was his first national R&B hit in 1948). With Big Crawford slapping the bass behind Waters ' gruff growl and slashing slide, "I Can't Be Satisfied" was such a local sensation that even Muddy Waters himself had a hard time buying a copy down on Maxwell Street. He assembled a band that was so tight and vicious on-stage that they were informally known as the Headhunters; they'd come into a bar where a band was playing, ask to sit in, and then "cut the heads" of their competitors with their superior musicianship. Little Walter , of course, would single-handedly revolutionize the role of the harmonica within the Chicago blues hierarchy; Jimmy Rogers was an utterly dependable second guitarist and Baby Face Leroy Foster could play both drums and guitar.

On top of their instrumental skills, all four men could powerfully sing. 1951 found Waters climbing the R&B charts no less than four times, beginning with "Louisiana Blues" and continuing through "Long Distance Call," "Honey Bee," and "Still a Fool." Although it didn't chart, his 1950 classic "Rollin' Stone" provided a certain young British combo with a rather enduring name. Leonard Chess himself provided the incredibly unsubtle bass drum bombs on Waters ' 1952 smash "She Moves Me." "Mad Love," his only chart bow in 1953, is noteworthy as the first hit to feature the rolling piano of Otis Spann , who would anchor the Waters aggregation for the next 16 years. By this time, Foster was long gone from the band, but Rogers remained and Chess insisted that Walter -- by then a popular act in his own right -- make nearly every Waters session into 1958 (why breakup a winning combination?). There was one downside to having such a peerless band: As the ensemble work got tighter and more urbanized, Waters ' trademark slide guitar was largely absent on many of his Chess waxings.

Willie Dixon was playing an increasingly important role in Muddy Waters ' success. In addition to slapping his upright bass on Waters ' platters, the burly Dixon was writing one future bedrock standard after another for him: "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man," "Just Make Love to Me," and "I'm Ready"; all seminal performances and each blasted to the uppermost reaches of the R&B lists in 1954. When labelmate Bo Diddley borrowed Waters ' swaggering beat for his strutting "I'm a Man" in 1955, Muddy turned around and did him tit for tat by reworking the tune ever so slightly as "Mannish Boy" and enjoying his own hit. "Sugar Sweet," a pile-driving rocker with Spann 's 88s anchoring the proceedings, also did well that year.

1956 brought three more R&B smashes: "Trouble No More," "Forty Days & Forty Nights," and "Don't Go No Farther." But rock & roll was quickly blunting the momentum of veteran blues aces like Waters ; Chess was growing more attuned to the modern sounds of Chuck Berry , Bo Diddley , the Moonglows , and the Flamingos . Ironically, it was Muddy Waters who had sent Berry to Chess in the first place. After that, there was only one more chart item, 1958's typically uncompromising (and metaphorically loaded) "Close to You." But Waters ' Chess output was still of uniformly stellar quality, boasting gems like "Walking Thru the Park" (as close as he was likely to come to mining a rock & roll groove) and "She's Nineteen Years Old," among the first sides to feature James Cotton 's harp instead of Walter 's, in 1958. That was also the year Muddy Waters and Spann made their first sojourn to England, where his electrified guitar horrified sedate Britishers accustomed to the folksy homilies of Big Bill Broonzy .

Perhaps chagrined by the response, Waters paid tribute to Broonzy with a solid LP of his material in 1959. Cotton was apparently the bandmember who first turned Muddy on to "Got My Mojo Working," originally cut by Ann Cole in New York. Waters ' 1956 cover was pleasing enough but went nowhere on the charts. But when the band launched into a supercharged version of the same tune at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival, Cotton and Spann put an entirely new groove to it, making it an instant classic (fortuitously, Chess was on hand to capture the festivities on tape). As the 1960s dawned, Waters ' Chess sides were sounding a trifle tired. Oh, the novelty thumper "Tiger in Your Tank" packed a reasonably high-octane wallop, but his adaptation of Junior Wells ' "Messin' With the Kid" (as "Messin' With the Man") and a less-than-timely "Muddy Waters Twist" were a long way removed indeed from the mesmerizing Delta sizzle that Waters had purveyed a decade earlier.

Overdubbing his vocal over an instrumental track by guitarist Earl Hooker , Waters laid down an uncompromising "You Shook Me" in 1962 that was a step in the right direction. Drummer Casey Jones supplied some intriguing percussive effects on another 1962 workout, "You Need Love," which Led Zeppelin liked so much that they purloined it as their own creation later on. In the wake of the folk-blues boom, Waters reverted to an acoustic format for a fine 1964 LP, Folk Singer, that found him receiving superb backing from guitarist Buddy Guy , Dixon on bass, and drummer Clifton James. In October, he ventured overseas again as part of the Lippmann and Rau-promoted American Folk Blues Festival, sharing the bill with Sonny Boy Williamson , Memphis Slim , Big Joe Williams , and Lonnie Johnson . The personnel of the Waters band was much more fluid during the 1960s, but he always whipped them into first-rate shape.

Guitarists Pee Wee Madison, Luther "Snake Boy" Johnson, and Sammy Lawhorn, harpists Mojo Buford and George Smith , bassists Jimmy Lee Morris and Calvin "Fuzz" Jones, and drummers Francis Clay and Willie "Big Eyes" Smith (along with Spann , of course) all passed through the ranks. In 1964, Waters cut a two-sided gem for Chess, "The Same Thing"/"You Can't Lose What You Never Had," that boasted a distinct 1950s feel in its sparse, reflexive approach. Most of his subsequent Chess catalog, though, is fairly forgettable. Worst of all were two horrific attempts to make him a psychedelic icon. 1968's Electric Mud forced Waters to ape his pupils via an unintentionally hilarious cover of the Stones ' "Let's Spend the Night Together" (session guitarist Phil Upchurch still cringes at the mere mention of this album). After the Rain was no improvement the following year.

Partially salvaging this barren period in his discography was the Fathers and Sons project, also done in 1969 for Chess, which paired Muddy Waters and Spann with local youngbloods Paul Butterfield and Mike Bloomfield in a multigenerational celebration of legitimate Chicago blues. After a period of steady touring worldwide but little standout recording activity, Waters ' studio fortunes were resuscitated by another of his legion of disciples, guitarist Johnny Winter . Signed to Blue Sky, a Columbia subsidiary, Waters found himself during the making of the first LP, Hard Again, backed by pianist Pinetop Perkins , drummer Willie Smith , and guitarist Bob Margolin from his touring band, Cotton on harp, and Winter 's slam-bang guitar, Waters roared like a lion who had just awoken from a long nap. Three subsequent Blue Sky albums continued the heartwarming back-to-the-basics campaign. In 1980, his entire combo split to form the Legendary Blues Band; needless to note, he didn't have much trouble assembling another one (new members included pianist Lovie Lee, guitarist John Primer , and harpist Mojo Buford).

By the time of his death in 1983, Muddy Waters ' exalted place in the history of blues (and 20th century popular music, for that matter) was eternally assured. The Chicago blues genre that he turned upside down during the years following World War II would never recover, and that's a debt we'll never be able to repay. ~ Bill Dahl

Question: The late 'Father of Chicago Blues', McKinley Morganfield, is better known by what name?
Answer: Muddy Waters