Waters’ approach to the blues underwent a dramatic metamorphosis after moving to Chicago, where he befriended and played with such estimable figures as Big Bill Broonzy and John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson. Waters switched from acoustic to electric guitar in order to be heard over the din of patrons at the clubs he played on Chicago’s South Side. After a few false starts, Waters’ recording career began in earnest soon after pianist Sunnyland Slim introduced him to Leonard Chess, co-owner of the Aristocrat label (later Chess Records). Working at the famed Chess Studios on South Michigan Avenue, Waters cut many of the greatest recordings in the blues canon. He developed a fruitful team approach to record-making with producer Leonard Chess, bassist/songwriter Willie Dixon, and various musical associates.
Waters was a fierce singer and slashing slide guitarist whose uncut blues bore the stamp of his mentors, Robert Johnson and Son House. For his own part, Waters served to mentor or at least launch many prominent blues musicians, many of whom went on to careers as bandleaders in their own right. The list of notable musicians who passed through Waters’ band includes harmonica players “Little Walter” Jacobs, “Big Walter” Horton, Junior Wells and James Cotton; guitarists Jimmy Rogers, Pat Hare, Luther Tucker and Earl Hooker; pianists Memphis Slim, Otis Spann and Pinetop Perkins; and drummers Elgin Evans, Fred Below and Francis Clay.
In addition to his musical legacy, Waters helped cultivate a great respect for the blues as one of its most commanding and articulate figureheads. Drummer Levon Helm of The Band, who worked with him on The Muddy Waters Woodstock Album and at The Last Waltz, had this to say about him in a Goldmine magazine interview: “Muddy taught us to take things in context, to be respectful, and to be serious about our music, as he was. He showed us music is a sacred thing.”
Waters, who remained active till the end, died of a heart attack in 1983. He was 68 years old. In the years since his death, the one-room cedar shack in which he lived on the Stovall Plantation has been preserved as a memorial to Waters’ humble origins.
Discography
The Best of Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters Sings Big Bill Broonzy
Muddy Waters At Newport, 1960
Folk Singer
The Real Folk Blues
Muddy Waters Brass and the Blues
More Real Folk Blues
Electric Mud
After The Rain
Fathers and Sons
Muddy Waters Sail On
They Call Me Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield aka Muddy Waters Live (at Mr. Kelly's)
The London Muddy Waters Sessions
Can't Get No Grindin'
London Revisited with Howlin' Wolf
Unk In Funk
Woodstock Album
Rolling Stone
Rare and Unissued
Trouble No More Super Blues
Live at Jazz Jamboree '76
His Best, 1947 - 1955
Muddy Mississippi Waters
I'm Ready
Hard Again
King Bee
Muddy and the Wolf
The Plantation Album
One More Mile
Paris, 1972
Goin' Way Back
A Tribute to Muddy Waters
Buddy Guy, John Hiatt, Keb Mo and others sing the music of Muddy Waters.
Hoochie Coochie Man
The Lost Tapes
The Golden Anniversary Collection
http://www.muddywaters.com
Waters was a fierce singer and slashing slide guitarist whose uncut blues bore the stamp of his mentors, Robert Johnson and Son House. For his own part, Waters served to mentor or at least launch many prominent blues musicians, many of whom went on to careers as bandleaders in their own right. The list of notable musicians who passed through Waters’ band includes harmonica players “Little Walter” Jacobs, “Big Walter” Horton, Junior Wells and James Cotton; guitarists Jimmy Rogers, Pat Hare, Luther Tucker and Earl Hooker; pianists Memphis Slim, Otis Spann and Pinetop Perkins; and drummers Elgin Evans, Fred Below and Francis Clay.
In addition to his musical legacy, Waters helped cultivate a great respect for the blues as one of its most commanding and articulate figureheads. Drummer Levon Helm of The Band, who worked with him on The Muddy Waters Woodstock Album and at The Last Waltz, had this to say about him in a Goldmine magazine interview: “Muddy taught us to take things in context, to be respectful, and to be serious about our music, as he was. He showed us music is a sacred thing.”
Waters, who remained active till the end, died of a heart attack in 1983. He was 68 years old. In the years since his death, the one-room cedar shack in which he lived on the Stovall Plantation has been preserved as a memorial to Waters’ humble origins.
Discography
The Best of Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters Sings Big Bill Broonzy
Muddy Waters At Newport, 1960
Folk Singer
The Real Folk Blues
Muddy Waters Brass and the Blues
More Real Folk Blues
Electric Mud
After The Rain
Fathers and Sons
Muddy Waters Sail On
They Call Me Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield aka Muddy Waters Live (at Mr. Kelly's)
The London Muddy Waters Sessions
Can't Get No Grindin'
London Revisited with Howlin' Wolf
Unk In Funk
Woodstock Album
Rolling Stone
Rare and Unissued
Trouble No More Super Blues
Live at Jazz Jamboree '76
His Best, 1947 - 1955
Muddy Mississippi Waters
I'm Ready
Hard Again
King Bee
Muddy and the Wolf
The Plantation Album
One More Mile
Paris, 1972
Goin' Way Back
A Tribute to Muddy Waters
Buddy Guy, John Hiatt, Keb Mo and others sing the music of Muddy Waters.
Hoochie Coochie Man
The Lost Tapes
The Golden Anniversary Collection
http://www.muddywaters.com
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