About Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters was born April 4, 1915 in Rolling Fork, Mississippi
by the name of McKinley Morganfield. His mother died when
he was just three years old, and his father shipped him
off to Clarksdale, MI to be raised by his grandmother. Where
McKinley grew up, poverty was the way of life, and gospel
or blues was one way to deal with it. Subsequently, he was
out working in the fields at a very young age. He didn’t
become interested in music until later in his youth. Luckily,
Clarksdale was a hotbed of blues development, and McKinley
was exposed to many of the greats while he was still learning.
He was also exposed to the local flavor both in the field,
and at after hours socials and get-togethers. He earned
his stage name during these years, when his grandmother
used to chastise him for playing in the dirty water when
he was little. She started calling him "Muddy."
"Waters" was added by the local kids as a playful
slang insult later. Muddy Waters was born.
Like Robert Johnson, Muddy Water’s
first instrument was the harmonica. He claims to have learned
it by thirteen, and the guitar by seventeen, but these could
be highly exaggerated. Muddy was known to be a bit of a
braggart, and these stories were never told the same way
twice. We do know for certain that he had mastered these
instruments and could play them wickedly well by the age
of twenty-two.By the start of the 1940s, word of Muddy’s
talent began to circulate throughout the area, and filtered
into the academic folk circuit. He was recorded first by
Alan and John Lomax and John Work at Stovall’s
Plantation in 1941 and 1942 for the Library of Congress
and the Testament Label. Muddy Waters’ discovery was
unintentional, as the Lomax brothers had intended to come
south and record Robert Johnson, only to find that he had
been fatally poisoned two years earlier. Lucky for him.
The thrill of hearing himself recorded proved to Muddy that
he had what it took to become a professional musician, and
he set out for Chicago in 1943 to make this a reality. He
quickly landed a job in a paper mill to pay the bills and
tried to make a name for himself as a musician in the evenings.
He recorded three sides for Columbia Records in 1946, but
they were never released. While he was struggling in Chicago,
he hung out with Memphis
Slim, Sunnyland
Slim and Sonny
Boy Williamson. It was this association with
Sunnyland Slim that led Muddy Waters to Aristocrat Records
which recorded and released his first hit, "I Can’t
Be Satisfied," in 1947. This release proved to be an
incredible hit, bringing the amplified Chicago Blues onto
the scene.
Muddy Waters went electric in 1944, combining his Mississippi
rural sound with the intense roar of the city. He probably
started playing electric because, "couldn’t nobody
hear you with an acoustic" in the south side clubs.
This amplification and big beat sound, mixed with the traditional
style and then layered with Muddy’s earthy vocals
and bottleneck guitar style proved to be a wickedly successful
mix. Muddy broke out of Chicago in 1951 with this sound,
quickly earning the title, ‘Grand Ole’ Man’
of the blues. His career continued on strong until his death.
He was one of our most influential artists in almost every
genre of music (excepting the classics), including traditional,
blues, R & B, folk, country, jazz, and rock. He recorded
dozens of albums and earned numerous awards.
Muddy Waters died in Chicago, April 30, 1984.
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