Muddy Waters

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Muddy Waters

• From the Cotton Fields
• to Carnegie Hall

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McKinley Morganfield.....Muddy Waters

• Muddy Waters experienced the fullest of life,
  ranging from picking cotton in the depression era
  Mississippi Delta, to playing music before
  thousands of cheering fans all over the world.
  His musical style, which developed from the
  age-old tradition of singing about your troubles,
  laid the foundation for most modern music that
  followed.

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Muddy Beginnings

• McKinley Morganfield was born in Rolling Fork, MS
  on April 4, 1915 to Ollie Morganfield and Berta
  Jones. His mother died when he was three, so he
  moved 100 miles away to Clarksdale, MS to live
  with his Grandmother. McKinley got his nickname
  Muddy from his family due to his love for playing
  in mud puddles and creeks. Muddys childhood was
  spent working in the fields with the other
  laborers, where hollering songs was a way to
  pass the miserable day. This method of singing
  is the basis of The Blues, the music he would
  eventually master.

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Early Music

• At an early age, Muddy learned to play the
  harmonica accompanied by other homemade
  instruments like a kerosene can. At about 15, he
  got his first guitar, which he learn to play
  bottle-neck style, popular in the Delta region
  which he lived. Instead of fingering the frets of
  the guitar, a smooth bottleneck was used to
  create a sound like an extension of your voice.
  Robert Johnson was a popular player at this time.
• He was picked by the Son Sims Four to be a
  vocalist and received some instruction by Sims.
  It was the performance of Son House that
  inspired Muddy for a lifetime.

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Ditchin the Delta

• Muddy mastered the delta-style guitar which fit
  the brutal living conditions. The music helped
  them communicate their inner feelings of rage
  about their plight as poor laborers. Muddy
  performed all around the area at rough parties,
  dances and picnics. He was first recorded in 1941
  by Alan Lomax who was doing a Folksong Archive
  project. They were actually looking to record
  Robert Johnson, who had passed away !
• Shortly after this success, Muddy, now a young
  man, had a hankering to spread his delta gift
  to the masses. After a short try in St. Louis,
  he moved to Chicago in 1943.

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Delta Chicago Blues are born

• Muddy was involved in the Great Migration, a
  movement of Afro-Americans from the poor rural
  South, to the booming, urban North where
  opportunity was possible. Muddy started out in
  Chicago playing acoustic guitar, but his uncle
  gave him an electric model, just the ticket for
  loud city life. After a slow start, Muddy built
  up a band which played music that excited the
  other southerners who moved north. In 1950, he
  released Rolling Stone which told of being
  root-less and ruthless. The Rolling Stones
  used this song title as their name. As Muddys
  shows became more popular, they became more
  crowded, so Muddy added an amplifier. This
  signified the transition from Acoustic Delta
  Blues to Rockin Electric Guitar Chicago Blues.

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Racing up the Charts

• In 1951, Muddys band identified the blues/ rock
  and roll style with an electric guitar and
  raucous vocals. Together they composed many
  popular songs that are copied and reproduced
  around the world today. It took the band until
  1953 to record, because the monopoly of the
  Chicago music scene, created by Chess Recordings,
  was focusing on smaller groups. After Muddy
  started recording with Chess Records, he
  published 14 national hits including Hoochie
  Coochie Man," "I'm Ready," and "Mannish Boy."
  These songs remain on band session lists still
  today. He helped B.B. King start out who referred
  to him as the Boss of Chicago. He also helped
  Chuck Berry get his record deal going. Some say
  that Chuck Berrys true Rock and Roll Style
  decreased the demand for the Blues.

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Sweeping the Nation

• By the 1960s, Muddys music had planted itself in
  the American culture. He did not just have
  followers on the Chitlin Circuit for southern
  black folks and the rough Chicago Blues scene,
  but served his music up to a white, middle-class
  audience. Instead of small bar-rooms, Muddy now
  played at college auditoriums, folksong, blues
  and jazz clubs and festival stages. He even
  played at Carnegie Hall in New York City. He was
  involved in many genres including blues, rock and
  roll, country and folk where he did a legendary
  performance at the 1960 Newport Folk Festival. He
  even made TV performances. The early British
  rock scene found its roots in Muddys brand of
  music. Renowned British blues rocker Eric
  Clapton said "I felt so much love for him. I felt
  like he was my father and I was his adopted son

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Respectin your Elders

• Through the 1970s, Muddy continued to play his
  music, sometimes performing with the artists
  whos careers were influenced by him. Younger
  musicians who benefited from Muddy, included him
  in their shows. Johnny Winter produced Muddys
  comeback album titled Hard Again with
  follow-ups King Bee and Im Ready.
  Subsequent to this rebirth, Muddy topped off his
  career by going on Tour as the opening act for
  Eric Clapton.
• According to Muddys late 70s guitarist, Bob
  Margolin, while Muddy popularized the heavy
  sounds that inspired Rock and Roll, rock was more
  commercially successful than blues ever was.
  Margolin further attributed this to the power of
  Muddys music.

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Blues Dont Know No Barriers

• Blues music has had an effect on people to break
  down barriers and bring people together. This has
  to do with the fact the music takes over our
  mind, and just for a moment we forget what we
  look like. Bob Margolin writes Go to a Blues
  festival Watch the love of this music tear down
  barriers of Race, Age, Nationality, Politics,
  Society, and Economics He thanks god and the
  black legends for maintaining these seemingly
  magical powers.
• While Muddy possessed these musical powers, he
  allowed his band members to realize their
  potential saying if you got a star in the band,
  youve got to let him shine.

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Muddy til the End

• It has been said that the birth of Rock and Roll
  can be simplified as an amalgamation of the
  music of Muddy Waters and Hank Williams. This is
  a huge statement as rock and roll has been a
  major influence on our culture and way of life.
  Most every artist today can trace their roots
  back to Muddy Waters. Danny Dunlap of Electric
  Woodshed, who has played with other Muddy
  followers like Bo Diddley, credits Muddy for the
  influence in everymans heart and soul. Muddy
  continued impacting generations of musicians
  until a year before his death in 1983.
• Muddy taught us an important lesson. It doesnt
  matter how you begin your life, you can be a star
  no matter who you are. He started as the poorest
  of poor and at the end of is life, he was as rich
  as Midas in terms of influencing the world of
  music forever.

And just like Muddy spells man M-A-N, I spell
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• end E-N-D!

Note Graphics and Images used herein property of
websites and are not used for commercial purposes
Special thanks to Bob Margolin and Danny Dunlap
for their E-mail interview, and William
Goldfarb who teaches me to appreciate the finer
things in life
Muddy Waters 1915 - 1983