The first time I saw one of those TV ads promoting
prescription drugs for men with “Low T” – low testosterone levels – I had to
wonder if the drug makers had found a way to bottle the essence of blues artist Muddy Waters.
Waters was one of the
founders of electric Chicago blues, and he also left a profound mark on rock
‘n’ roll. In fact, Muddy once sang, “The blues had a baby and they named it
rock ‘n’ roll.” For better and worse, Muddy was a living example of high
testosterone. In performance, his natural swagger makes Mick Jagger look like an
adolescent. Check out this 1981 performance, in which Mick and several other Rolling
Stones join Muddy and his band onstage in a Chicago blues club:
Jagger’s band and Rolling Stone Magazine both took their
name from one of Muddy’s songs. Led Zeppelin reworked the Muddy Waters hit “You
Need Love” (written by Willie Dixon), retitled it “Whole Lotta Love” and
claimed authorship. Eric Clapton drew inspiration from Muddy and several other
blues players. He repaid his debt by giving Muddy co-billing on a concert tour
in the late 1970s. Jimi Hendrix remembered Muddy Waters as the first guitar
player he was aware of. Muddy’s “Trouble No More” was the very first song the Allman
Brothers Band played 45 years ago, and it was the last song the band performed
at its final concert in the early morning hours of Oct. 29, 2014, at New York’s
Beacon Theater.
The down side of Muddy’s High T was a string of marriages,
mistresses, and affairs, which are detailed in the excellent Robert Gordon
biography, “Can’t Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters” (Back Bay
Books; Reprint edition, 2003). Gordon’s book is mostly about the music, of
course, but Muddy’s love life was a part of his persona.
Muddy Waters was born McKinley Morganfield in Mississippi in
1913 (or maybe 1915, depending on the source). He picked up his nickname as a
child. Muddy’s life paralleled the growth and spread of the Delta blues in the
mid-20th Century – he worked on Stovall’s Plantation in Mississippi and
recorded his first sides there for folklorist Alan Lomax, who went to
Mississippi for the Library of Congress – just an acoustic guitar, voice and
songs influenced by the early bluesman who Muddy heard, including Son House and
Robert Johnson. Eventually he moved north to Chicago, where he helped establish
the instrumental template for rock ‘n’ roll by playing amplified electric
guitar (to be heard above the background noise at Chicago’s nightclubs).
A number of major blues artists got their start in Muddy’s
band, including harp player Little Walter, pianist Otis Spann, and guitarist Jimmy
Rogers. Muddy recorded a series of seminal blues records for the Chess label in
the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s, then made a late resurgence in the 1970s, when rocker
Johnny Winter produced several excellent albums on the Blue Sky label. He died
in 1983.
For music fans new to Muddy Waters, the hardest part is
where to start listening. He has dozens of anthologies, albums and live
collections. Any anthology that includes his original Chess recordings is a great
place to start. His swagger, passion, authority, deeply soulful voice and
piercing guitar sound as clear, undiluted and timeless as they did in 1947.
It’s easy to hear what hooked Jagger, Clapton, Page and Hendrix.
Muddy Waters: “Got My Mojo Working” at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival:
Some of the biographical
information came from album notes and from Wikipedia:
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