Cowbell welcomes guest writer: wayfarer of "Stream Of Consciousness"
McKinley “Muddy Waters”
Morganfield
Singer, Guitarist, and
Bandleader
b.
Rolling Fork, Mississippi,
April 4, 1915;
d.
Chicago,
Illinois,
April 30,
1983
In
the summers of 1941 and ’42, folk music archivist Alan Lomax traveled to
Mississippi to record blues
musicians for the Library of Congress. Of the artists recorded during these
trips, a young guitarist and field hand on Stovall’s
Plantation named McKinley
Morganfield was one. A listen to those first recordings that Morganfield made
reveals the depth of his talent was there, years before he changed everything by
plugging up an electric guitar. There were many truly great Delta blues
musicians that made many fine recordings, but, a listen to McKinley
Morganfield’s earliest recordings demonstrates that he displayed a concise
attack, and a smooth, rhythmic manner that most of the other Delta blues players
(save perhaps Robert Johnson) did not display. His was not the jagged, gritty
sound of his mentor Eddie James “Son” House, but rather a more sophisticated
(albeit simplified) mutation of Johnson and House that was so rhythmic as to
produce an almost danceable beat even played on a sole acoustic guitar. The
difference was in his timing; it was impeccable. In the words of Lomax; “I was bowled over by
his artistry. There was nothing uncertain about his performances. He sang and
played with such finesse, with such a mercurial bond between voice and guitar,
and he expressed so much tenderness in the way he handled his lyrics, that went
right beyond all his predecessors.” It was obvious, even then, Muddy had
“something special”.
In
1943, Morganfield asked the overseer at Stovall’s
Plantation to raise his wage from 22
½ cents to 25 cents an hour. When the pay raise was refused, Muddy took the
Illinois Central from Memphis to
Chicago, and got a job on the
loading docks of a paper mill. He held many full time jobs over the next few
yeas while playing in the bustling
Chicago blues clubs in the evenings.
In those clubs, Muddy met many other blues musicians, including Big Bill Broonzy
and “Sonny Boy” Williamson, garnering enough of a name for himself to be called
to the attention of a local record producer. His first three sides were recorded
in 1946 for independent producer Lester Melrose and sold to
Columbia, but were never released
(until 1971). In 1947, Muddy cut “Johnson Machine Gun” coupled with “Fly Right
Little Girl” as his first record for Aristocrat Records, the
Chicago based label with which he
had signed. None of his first four records went anywhere, but in 1948 he
provided Aristocrat/Chess with two R & B Chart toppers, “I Can’t Be
Satisfied” and “Feel Like Goin’ Home”.
His
records began to earn him a “name” amongst the
Chicago blues scene, as well as his
live, “electrified” Delta Blues performances. Muddy’s was not the usual,
“citified” blues that had become the norm, as Big Bill Broonzy told Studs Turkel
for the liner notes of “The Best of Muddy Waters”; “It’s real. Muddy’s
real.” And, in Muddy’s words, (comparing
his style to that of Broonzy and Tampa Red in Guitar Player magazine years
later) “Mine was a rustier, grittier sound.” Once again, Muddy was proving
himself to be more than just the average blues player. He was effectively
transforming the Delta blues styles he had learned and adapted from “Son” House
and Robert Johnson into what would come to exemplify the
“Chicago blues” sound, and would
ultimately blaze the trail for Rock and Roll. The band that Muddy had gathered
around him was a veritable all-star list of the cream of the Chicago blues scene
of the late forties; Little Walter on harmonica, “Big” Crawford or Willie Dixon
on bass, Elgin Evans or Fred Below on drums, Otis Spann on piano, and Jimmy
Rogers on guitar. Each of these players was, at that time, a star in their own
right, and well respected amongst the
Chicago blues community. The
bumping, grinding music this ensemble churned out literally changed the face of
popular music forever; and earned McKinley “Muddy Waters” Morganfield the crown
as the “King Of The Chicago Blues.”
Muddy’s music not only inspired blues musicians of the time, but also
made a huge impact on the music of the British Invasion of the sixties. Among
some of the most notable musicians from
England who
cited his influence were The Rolling Stones (who took their name from a Muddy
song), the Beatles, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Page. Muddy lent a helping hand to
Paul Butterfield and Michael Bloomfield (both of whom lived in
Chicago and were regular sit-in
guests at Muddy’s gigs), Charlie Musslewhite, and Johnny Winter. Some other
notable names who passed through Muddy’s band were Freddy King, Buddy Guy, and
Bob Margolin. All of these musicians cited Muddy as being not only a gracious
and compassionate man, but a stellar musician as well. His music has held a
lasting influence, not only in modern electric blues, but modern rock music as
well.
Suggested
listening:
(although any Muddy is good Muddy, the following are
disks that I find it hard not to own.)
“The
Muddy Waters Plantation
Recordings”
(Simply the best acoustic recordings of Muddy available,
to my knowledge)
“Muddy Waters: His Best 1947-55”
(if I could only
own one Muddy Waters C.D, it would probably be this
one)
“Fathers and Sons”
(an excellent album featuring Muddy with some famous
names of sixties rock, including Butterfield and
Bloomfield)
“Hard Again”, “I’m Ready”, “Muddy
‘Mississippi’ Waters: Live”, and “King Bee”
(all of which were recorded on Blue Sky in the
mid-seventies to early eighties, and feature Johnny Winter on second guitar, and
as producer. (“I’m Ready” reunited Muddy with Jimmy Rogers). “King Bee” was
Muddy’s last session. These records are excellent! Muddy won three consecutive
Grammys for these recordings.)
wayfarer "Stream of Consciousness"
