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Muddy Waters

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Muddy Waters, born McKinley Morganfield, grew up on the Stovall Plantation near Clarksdale, Mississippi. His grandmother raised him and gave him the nickname Muddy, because he liked to play in the muddy water of Deer Creek. He first heard music in church. At seventeen he played guitar and harmonica and imitated Son House and Robert Johnson. In 1941 Alan Lomax and John W. Work III recorded him in Mississippi for the Library of Congress. In 1943 he moved to Chicago to become a musician. In 1946 he made his first records, for Columbia and then for Aristocrat Records, the young label of the Chess brothers.

Music and breakthrough

In the early 1950s he recorded, with his band, with Little Walter on harmonica, Jimmy Rogers on guitar, Elgin Evans on drums and Otis Spann on piano, songs that became blues classics, sometimes with the bassist and writer Willie Dixon. They include Hoochie Coochie Man, I Just Want to Make Love to You and I'm Ready. In 1958 he travelled to England, which set off interest in the blues there. His performance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1960 was released as his first live album.

Influence

Waters took the acoustic Delta blues to the city and gave it a sharp, electric sound with a full band. He is called the father of modern Chicago blues. His music laid the foundation for rock and roll and later rock.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Hoochie Coochie Man and notice the heavy voice and the stop-start rhythm of the band. Can you hear how the rhythm lingers while he sings his own myth?

Discography

Studio albums

Mentioned in other articles

See also

Categories: ArtistsChicago blues