Ok, so I have featured him before. Trust me, ain't nobody gonna complain that I'm featuring him again today. Thirty years ago he went to sleep and never woke up. I hope that last dream was a doozy, god knows he had a life and career most people can only dream of.
McKinley Morganfield, better know as Muddy Waters, was born in Mississippi but became known as the King of Chicago Blues... a title he shares with another blues legend Howlin Wolf. And really, who can choose the better of the two.
Whatever the music genre, Muddy had an influence on it. Whoever the band, they were influenced by him. One of the first to play the blues electric, there is no mistaking the Muddy Waters sound.
There are legends in all categories of music. If you are lucky, sometime in your lifetime you may actually get to see a few. The blues genre has a long lists of legends, each with a distinct style and sound. While the soul of the blues is universal, there are variations in rhythm, the addition or types of horns, and attitude. Chicago, Memphis, Kansas City, New Orleans, every city has their own sound. Last week I was able to see a show which spotlighted the Chicago blues sound of two of its legends: Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf.
The show featured The Fabulous Thunderbirds and more specifically, vocalist/harmonica master Kim Wilson. Special guests were quite a who's who in the blues business. Guitarists Tinsley Ellis, Jody Williams and Bob Margolin, along with the one and only James Cotton on harmonica.
It was one hell of a show. My full review can be found on ourvinyl.com at this link: Blues at the Crossroads Check it out, I hope you can get a bit of the feeling I did that night.
It's been a long, cold week. Dear lord, I am in need of some serious blues. Serious blues.
McKinley Morganfield died April 30, 1983 at approximately 70 years of age. His date of birth has long been in question but his impact on the American blues scene has not. He has been ranked as one of the top 100 musicians of all time, and influenced virtually every American and British rock or blues group from the 60's. Zeppelin, Cream, Hendrix, the Stones.. Hendrix is quoted as saying about him "I first heard him as a little boy and it scared me to death." The Rolling Stones got their name from one of his songs.
The king of Chicago Blues, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame and recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Hell, they even issued a postage stamp in his honor.
Still can't place the name? How about what his friends called him: Muddy Waters.
Let's just taste a few of his best tunes. They are bound to warm you from the inside out.
