Muddy Waters – Deep Blues (sheet music in the #smlpdf)

(Guitar Recorded Versions). Complete guitar tab and notation for 30 blues classics: Baby, Please Don’t Go * Blow, Wind, Blow * The Blues Had a Baby and They Named It Rock and Roll * Champagne and Reefer * Close to You (I Wanna Get) * Deep Down in Florida * Evil * Good News * Got My Mo Jo Working * Honey Bee * I Can’t Be Satisfied * I Feel like Going Home * I Just Want to Make Love to You * I Want to Be Loved * I’m Ready * I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man * Long Distance Call * Louisiana Blues * Mannish Boy * My Home Is on the Delta * My Love Strikes like Lightning * Rollin’ and Tumblin’ * Rollin’ Stone (Catfish Blues) * Sad, Sad Day * The Same Thing * Screamin’ and Cryin’ * She’s Nineteen Years Old * Still a Fool * Streamline Woman * You Can’t Lose What You Ain’t Never Had.

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Who was Muddy Waters?

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On April 4, 1913, Muddy Waters was born, one of the greatest blues artists of all time. He was the one who gave life to Chicago Blues or electric blues and set a pattern to follow for those who would later follow the path of Rock and Roll. We could say that he is the true King of the Blues

McKinley Morganfield is his real name, Muddy Waters is just his stage name. McKinley was born on April 4, 1913, in Issaquena County, Mississippi, USA – Died on April 30, 1983, in Westmont, Illinois, United States. He was an American composer, who composed his own songs, singing especially Blues, in addition to dominating other genres such as: Blues, Chicago Blues and Delta Blues.

His skill reached such a point that he earned the nickname ” Father of Modern Chicago Blues ”, thanks to his influence on the genre. The representation of him was present as an important figure in the musical world, especially after the Second World War. The beginning of his skill is from the age of 17, when he started playing the guitar and harmonica.

He was also a person who collaborated a lot with the resurgence of the Blues genre, especially when he made his trip to England, where he was in charge of laying the bases and foundations of what would be modern Blues. Finally, the influence of the singer Muddy Waters is practically incalculable since his style came to inspire singers and musicians of various genres such as Rock and Roll, Rock and Folk.

The young McKinley Morganfield was born on April 4 in several possible places, since there is no “exactly certified” place from which his origin is affirmed. Despite this, there are 2 possibilities which have some data in its favor:

• Issaquena County: According to evidence left mainly in his songs, it is possible that he was born in Issaquena County, a town in the state of Mississippi. Also an old musical record (something of a review) claims to give the birthplace of several Blues artists, including Muddy Waters, saying that he was born in Issaquena. Also other points in favor of the theory are the fact that his marriage license has 1913 and Issaquena as his place and date of birth.
• The town of Rolling Fork: Muddy Waters himself said in an interview that, in 1915, he was born in the town of Rolling Fork, located in the state of Mississippi. Even with this statement there is no record of his birth in said town, which lowers the credibility of said comment, qualifying it rather as a joke or satire. Despite this, his tombstone says this area and place.

When Muddy Waters was just a child he was raised mostly by his grandmother, Della Grant. The reason for this was due to the premature death of his mother, which occurred shortly after Muddy Waters was born. It was his own grandmother who gave him his nickname ‘Muddy’, because the young boy loved to play in the muddy water that was found nearby.

As time passed little by little, ”Waters” was added to his nickname. This happens when he began playing the harmonica during his adolescence, creating the nickname ”Muddy Waters”, which he would later use as a professional musician. If desired you can still find the remains of the house where he grew up, some remains of the cabin at Stovall Plantation, these remains are located in the museum called ” Delta Blues Museum ” in Clarksdale County, Mississippi

Beginning in the church

It was thanks to his participation in a Baptist church that he discovered his talent for singing. In an interview she said the following: “I used to belong to the church. He was a good Baptist, he sang in church. So I kept all my good moans and shakes coming out of the church.” It was then that he performed his first performance before the public. At the same time he stated that it was at that time when he bought his first guitar, getting the money by selling a horse, exactly the last horse they owned. He would eventually sell it for $15, giving his grandmother $7.50 and keeping the rest for himself, spending it on his guitar.

It was thanks to this guitar that he began to do his first non-professional jobs, acting and playing in the church, some venues and, above all, on the plantation owned by Colonel ”William Howard Stovall”.

Musical principles

His beginnings as an artist can be found in the 1940s, exactly in the years 1941-1948. The first meeting would be in August 1941, when ”Alan Lomax” went to Stovall, Mississippi, representing the ”Library of Congress” with the intention of recording several musicians of the Blues and Country genre. When Alan Lomax heard the song ”Rolling Stone”, he went directly to Muddy Waters’ house, bringing with him the necessary things to be able to incorporate him into the Library of Congress program.

Some time later, Muddy Waters happens to read the magazine and to his surprise, the song Rolling Stone was in the magazine. Later he would be sitting listening to a vinyl of said program, again surprised he cannot recognize who is singing the first song to play, he felt a great emotion when he realized that it was his own voice. Completing the project, Alan Lomax would return in July 1942, with the intention of recording the song correctly.

Finally, a total of 2 recording sessions were carried out. The 2 sessions were covered, and later released by ”Testament Records” under the name ”Down on Stovall’s Plantation”. At the same time, the major label ”Chess Records” was in charge of re-editing the sections and publishing them on CD, under the name ”Muddy Waters: The Complete Plantation Recordings”. Currently they can be found in 2 versions.

Muddy Waters, The Rolling Stones – Hoochie Coochie Man (Live)

Muddy Waters – I Be’s Troubled (Plantation Recording)

Musical career

Muddy Waters himself states that his musical career would literally begin 3 years later specifically in the year 1946, at the age of 33. This would happen thanks to some recordings that he would make in the month of May, together with Williams with the label ”Columbia Records”. In these recordings Muddy Waters would have an outdated combo for the time consisting of the following instruments: Clarinet, Saxophone and Piano.

After some time, approximately 2 or 4 years, said album would be released together with the 20th Century record label, based in Philadelphia, together with the orchestra director ”Iván Ballén”, taking his orchestra with him, using the name of ”Sweet Lucy”. Although Muddy Waters helped create this album, her name would never appear on it, triggering a lot of controversy in the years that followed.

After some time, in that same year, Muddy Waters began recording with Aristocrat Records, a record label which had just been formed very recently by the brothers Leonard Chess and Phil Chess. Come 1947, he decides to play guitar with musician Sunnyland Slim, working on piano for ”Gipsy Woman” and ”Little Anna Mae”. These songs were kept hidden and were never released, despite this there are still records that they were made.

Greater commercial success

The same year that the songs were recorded with Sunnyland Slim, the songs: “I Can’t Be Satisfied” and “I Feel Like Going Home” suddenly became a national hit. The songs began to be regular requests in the clubs and Muddy Waters began to be a star little by little. While all this was happening, his main label and record label ”Aristocraft records” decided to change its name to ”Chess Records”. Following the same path, the song ”Rolling Stone” also became a hit in clubs that played Blues.

Realizing their success, the Chess brothers (Leonard Chess and Phil Chess) did not wish to allow Muddy Waters to use their working band in their recording studio. They wanted ”Ernet Big Crawford” or some specifically assembled musicians to play at the Muddy recording sessions. Muddy Waters’ first accompanists were not specifically prominent musicians, the most relevant being ”Baby Face”, Johnny Jones and Leroy Foster.

Finally, thanks to Muddy’s pressure, in September 1953 he was allowed to record with a very famous Blues group of that decade. The members of the musical cast were the following musicians.

Maximum exponent in his career

The songs with the new group (described above) catapulted Muddy’s fame to the top, becoming an acclaimed Blues artist in the 1950s. They began playing and recording a series of Blues classics and received help by bassist and composer ”Willie Dixon”, his greatest composition being the lyrics of ”Hoochie Coochie man”.

After the group split, Muddy Waters, along with harmonica player Little Walter Jacobs and Howlin Wolf (a musician of southern descent), managed to reign in the Blues throughout the 1950s, especially in the city of Chicago. The band was considered an ideal reference point for future artists, who would copy the formula that had worked so well.

Although the new group broke up again, they all maintained a good relationship, appearing in many collaborations with each other. When Wuddy Waters creates his career as a solo artist, he maintains a (positive) rivalry with Little Walter and Howlin Wolf. Finally, Muddy Walters’ singles and singles reached the top of the R&B Billboard, demonstrating his success as an artist, singer, and musician in general.

International tours

The manager proposed to Muddy Waters to tour England, with the collaboration of Spann in 1958, which Muddy accepted. At that time and in these modest places they were used to listening to ”Dixieland” or ”traditional Jazz” style. Even when listening to music in English, you only heard a mix of Folk and Acoustic Blues.

To the surprise of the English, Muddy Waters played in a much more energetic way than they were used to, using a powerful electric guitar. Muddy went with the idea of ​​playing as he did in Chicago but it was not as well received as he expected, for the English this was “too strong” and although they did not cancel the tour, it did cause controversy in that country, to the point which appeared in the newspaper as follows ” Screaming Guitar and Howling Piano”.

He would then go on national tours and performances, which would serve to inspire new Blues artists to opt for a more modern style, incorporating electric and revolutionary instruments for Blues, a genre that at the time was purely acoustic.

End of his career

During the next 20 years Muddy Waters continued working in different places and receiving a large number of awards, the most notable being some Grammys. His retirement was in the early 1980s.

When the year 1981 arrives, he receives an invitation to the ”Chicago Fest” event, a music festival that would be held outdoors. This festival is the largest state musical event that is usually commemorated in Chicago. At this festival he joined famous musicians such as ”Johnny Winter” and ”Buddy Miles” performing performances singing their classics such as ”Mannish Boy”, ”Trouble No More” and ”Mojo Working”. Mainly the listeners and viewers were new fans and people who represented a new generation, despite this, Muddy played with confidence and was considered one of the fathers of the Blues in Chicago.

Unfortunately, this would be his last event because, when 1982 arrived, his health deteriorated dramatically (it should be noted that Muddy was already quite old). These problems significantly reduced his resistance and ability and quality to make recordings. After this he would perform his last public performance with Eric Clapton’s band.

Awards and Commemorations

• He won one of his biggest awards in 1972, obtaining his first Grammy at that time. This award was given to him for ”Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording”, thanks to the 1971 album called ”Call Me Muddy Waters”.
• Muddy won another Grammy in 1975. This was his last LP on the ”Chess Records” label. The name of said album is ”The Muddy Waters Woodstock Album”.
• Finally to summarize, Muddy Waters won the Grammy for ”Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording a total of 6 more times with the following albums: They Call Me Muddy Waters, The London Muddy Waters Session, The Muddy Waters, Hard Again, I’m Ready and Muddy “Mississippi” Waters Live.
• Recently in 2017, a huge 10-story mural was painted. This great work of art was commissioned by the ”Chicago Blues Festival”, with the Brazilian artist and painter ”Eduardo Kobra” as its main designer. The mural was painted on the side of a building in the area of ​​17 North State Street, a place where Muddy Waters came to live in his last years as a singer.

Personal life

Muddy Waters had his first wife almost at the beginning of his career. He married Geneva Wave, who was the first cousin of musician RL Burnside. The couple decided to have their wedding in the city of Lexington, Mississippi, around the 1940s. Unfortunately, his wife would die of cancer on March 15, 1973, leaving him custody of the two children born into the marriage: Rosalind and Renne.

Later (after raising the children) he decides to travel to Florida, where he meets Marva Jean Brooks, who would become his future wife. Marva was only 19 years old, having a large age difference with Muddy who was approximately 40 to 50 years older than her. Muddy used to call her by the nickname ”Sunshine” after her wedding.

Finally his 2 sons Larry Mud Morganfield and Big Bill Morganfield decide to follow in his footsteps. Both decide to become musicians and singers of the Blues genre thanks to the influence of their father. When 2017 arrives, Muddy Waters’ youngest son, Joseph Morganfield, decides to join his brothers, thus beginning to play Blues in public with the other Morganfields.

Death

At the age of 70 and in fairly deteriorating health, it was no surprise to those close to Muddy Waters that he died. While sleeping in his own home in Westmont, Illinois, he suffered heart failure that would cause his death. Some claim this was linked to his recent complications with cancer.

When the service personnel found Muddy’s body they decided to immediately call the emergency services, and when the ambulance arrived he was rushed to the Good Samaritan hospital. Despite his quick response, he was pronounced dead there at his old age of 70.

Discography

Muddy Waters was undoubtedly one of the artists with the most songs and albums released during his career, he will be remembered as the »Father of Blues» for the city of Chicago in addition to allowing us to learn about the origins of the genre in said city. Here is a list of the most famous and successful songs and albums released by the artist.

Singles

• «Country Blues» – «I Be’s Troubled». Año: 1941 Library of Congress AAFS.
• “Gypsy Woman” – “Little Anna Mae”. Year: 1947 Aristocrat
• «(I Feel Like) Going Home» – «I Can’t Be Satisfied». Año: 1948 Aristocrat 1305. R & B posición nro. 11
• “Louisiana Blues” – “Evan’s Shuffle” (instrumental) (“Ebony Shuffle”). Year 1950 Chess 1441. R & B position no. 10
• «I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man» – «She’s So Pretty». Año: 1954 Chess 1560.  R & B posición nro. 3
• «Birdnest on the Ground» / «When the Eagle Flies». Año: 1967 Chess 2018.
• «The Blues Had a Baby and They Named It Rock and Roll (No. 2)» . Año: 1970. Chess editión.

Albums

• Muddy Waters Sings Big Bill. Released on: June 1960. Label: Chess (LP-1444).
• Folk Singer. Released on: January 30, 1964. Label: Chess (LP-1483).
• After the Rain. Released on: May 12, 1969. Label: Cadet Concept (LPS-320)
• McKinley Morganfield AKA Muddy Waters. Released on: June, 1971. Label: Chess (2CH 60006).
• Hard Again. Released on: January 10, 1977. Label: Blue Sky (PZ34449).
• Rolling Stone. Released on: November, 1982Label: Chess (CH 8202).
• The Complete Plantation Recordings. Released on: June 8, 1993. Label: Chess (CHD/C-9344).
• The Best of Muddy Waters: The Millennium Collection. Lanzado el: Marzo 23, 1999. Disquera: Chess (CHD-11946).

Muddy Waters Greatest Hits | Muddy Waters Best Songs