Tag Archives: Muddy Waters

Blues, Muddy Waters, Music Calendar

Today: Muddy Waters released – Rollin’ Stone: The Golden Anniversary Collection in 2000 – 13 years ago

Muddy Waters - Rollin' Stone - The Golden Anniversary Collection

This is powerful music and belongs in any serious music fan’s library. You can’t own too much Muddy Waters. And even if you bought the Chess Box Set, only a third of these tracks were included. ESSENTIAL
~Steve Vrana (amazon.com review)

Not just an essential historical record of an artist and genre, these are some of the most seminal and inspired blues performances ever recorded.
~Hal Horowitz (allmusic.com)

Down South Blues @ spotify:

Wikipedia:

Released June 27, 2000
Recorded 1947-September 17, 1952 Chicago
Genre Blues
Length 153:41
Label MCA/Chess
Producer Leonard & Phil Chess, Andy McKaie
Compiler Andy McKaie

Rollin’ Stone: The Golden Anniversary Collection is a compilation album collecting the first 50 master recordings of blues singer Muddy Waters for Chess Records. The collection spans Muddy’s debut with then named Aristocrat Records circa 1947, and traces his evolution as a songwriter and musician up to September 17th, 1952 on what became Chess Records after the company changed ownership. It is the first in a series of releases chronicling Muddy Waters’ complete recording career at Chess. The second release in the series is Hoochie Coochie Man: The Complete Chess Masters, Volume 2, 1952-1958 (2004) and the third release in the series is You Shook Me: The Complete Chess Masters, Volume 3, 1958 to 1963 (2012).

Muddy_Waters

Gypsy Woman @spotify:

Personnel:

  • Muddy Waters – vocals, guitar (all tracks)
  • Sunnyland Slim – piano
  • Ernest “Big” Crawford – bass
  • Alex Atkins – alto sax
  • Leroy Foster – guitar, drums
  • Johnny Jones – piano
  • Jimmy Rogers – guitar, vocals
  • Little Walter – harmonica, guitar, vocals
  • Leonard Chess – producer, bass drum
  • Elgin Evans – drums
  • Phil Chess – producer

Album of the day:

Other June 27:

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Blues, List, Rock'n Roll

Rock and Roll: 100 Best Singles – according to Paul Williams – Part 1

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paul williams 100 best singles

There’s a scream inside everyone of us at every moment. And every one of us has had the experience of listening to a record and feeling that scream take over. Release. Abandon. Let it all out. Rock and Roll for me is about Eros, not Logos, which is paradoxical since my job is putting the experience in words.
~Paul Williams (Author’s note)

One of our favorite authors here at JV is Paul Williams, and…. he did write about other stuff than Bob Dylan.

We all love lists, so I’ll try out a new series of posts honoring one of his lesser known books:

Rock And Roll: The 100 Best Singles

..the list is chronological, starting back before the beginning and going through the 50’s and the 60’s and the 70’s and the 80’s, and ending for the sake of convenience in 1991. So #1 is not supposed to be ‘better’ than #100. It just got in the line first.

My criteria are simple: the song has to have been released as a seven-inch 45 rpm single in the United States or Great Britain (Robert Johnson’s 78 rpm ten-inch is the exception that proved the rule), and it has be “rock and roll” according to my subjective evaluation…
~Paul Williams (Author’s note)

All quotes are from the book.

Here is #1 – 10:

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Blues, Music Calendar

Today: The late Little Walter was born in 1930 – 83 years ago

little walter

..king of all post-war blues harpists,…. The fiery harmonica wizard took the humble mouth organ in dazzling amplified directions that were unimaginable prior to his ascendancy.
~Bill Dahl (allmusic.com)

Induction of Little Walter into R&R Hall of Fame in 2008:

Walter’s Jump – Live @ American Folk Blues Festival 1967, Germany:

Wikipedia:

Little Walter, born Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), was an American blues harmonica player, whose revolutionary approach to his instrument has earned him comparisons to Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix, for innovation and impact on succeeding generations. His virtuosity and musical innovations fundamentally altered many listeners’ expectations of what was possible on blues harmonica. Little Walter was inducted to the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008 in the “sideman” category making him the first and only artist ever to be inducted specifically for his work as a harmonica player.

little walter

Juke:

His legacy has been enormous: he is widely credited by blues historians as the artist primarily responsible for establishing the standard vocabulary for modern blues and blues rock harmonica players. His influence can be heard in varying degrees in virtually every modern blues harp player who came along in his wake, from blues greats such as Junior Wells, James Cotton, George “Harmonica” Smith, Carey Bell, and Big Walter Horton, through modern-day masters Sugar Blue, Billy Branch, Kim Wilson, Rod Piazza, William Clarke, and Charlie Musselwhite, in addition to blues-rock crossover artists such as Paul Butterfield and John Popper of the band Blues Traveler. Little Walter was portrayed in the 2008 film, Cadillac Records, by Columbus Short.

Awards & recognition: 

  • 1986 – Blues Hall of Fame: “Juke” (Classics of Blues Recordings – Singles or Album Tracks category)
  • 1991 – Blues Hall of Fame: Best of Little Walter (Classics of Blues Recordings – Albums category)
  • 1995 – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: “Juke” (500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll)
  • 2003 – Rolling Stone: Best of Little Walter (#198 on list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time)
  • 2008 – Grammy Awards: “Juke” (Grammy Hall of Fame Award)
  • 2008 – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Little Walter inducted (Sideman category)
  • 2008 – Blues Hall of Fame: “My Babe” (Classics of Blues Recordings – Singles or Album Tracks category)
  • 2009 – Grammy Awards The Complete Chess Masters: 1950–1967 (Best Historical Album Winner)

The Best Of Little Walter (full album):

Playlist of the day:

Other May-01:

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Blues, Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters

Video of the day: Bob Dylan plays Muddy Waters

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Dylan_waters___blues

Muddy Waters was born 101 years ago today, we celebrate this on JV today by dedicating todays video to Muddy Waters.

Here is Bob Dylan singing the famous Hoochie Coochie Man (written by Willie Dixon and first recorded by Muddy Waters):

“Hoochie Coochie Man” (sometimes referred to as “(I’m Your) Hoochie Coochie Man“) is a blues standard written by Willie Dixon and first recorded by Muddy Waters in 1954 in Chicago. The song was a major hit upon its release, reaching #8 on Billboard magazine’s Black Singles chart. The intro and verse to Muddy Water’s version feature stop-time while the chorus features a refrain. According to an account by Dave Van Ronk, Muddy Waters stated that the song is supposed to have a comic effect. (Wikipedia)

Waters Dylan

– Hallgeir

Blues, Muddy Waters

Today: Muddy Waters was born 100 years ago

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Muddy Waters, blues legend,  was born 100 years ago today!

“Man, you don’t know how I felt that afternoon when I heard that voice
and it was my own voice.” – Muddy Waters

Wikipedia (Read more):

McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 – April 30, 1983), known as Muddy Waters is generally considered the “father of modern Chicago blues”. He was a major inspiration for the British blues explosion in the 1960s, and was ranked #17 in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

In his later years Muddy usually said that he was born in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, in 1915, he was actually born at Jug’s Corner in neighboring Issaquena County, Mississippi, in 1913.

One of the greatest and most influential blues artists of all times.

Got my Mojo workin, 1976:

His grandmother Della Grant raised him after his mother died shortly after his birth. His fondness for playing in mud earned him the nickname “Muddy” at an early age. He then changed it to “Muddy Water” and finally “Muddy Waters”.
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