Every Friday around 11 a.m. Central, it’s time for Classic Americana on Radio Heartland. We pull a special track from the archives or from deep in the shelves to spotlight a particular artist or song.

Guitarist and singer Muddy Waters is considered a father of the Chicago blues sound, and his music would also influence generations of blues, rock and country musicians. 

Waters’ story doesn’t begin in Chicago, however; he was born McKinley Morganfield in 1913 in rural Mississippi, and he grew up in the Mississippi Delta, not far from the legendary down of Clarksdale. When he was growing up, his grandmother gave him his nickname because he liked to play in the muddy waters of a nearby creek. Inspired by local artists like Robert Johnson and Son House, Muddy Waters learned to play blues guitar and harmonica, and he learned to sing at his local church.

In the summer of 1941, the influential musicologist Alan Lomax visited the Mississippi Delta to record performances by local musicians, including Muddy Waters. Lomax sent Waters two pressings of the record along with $20; on hearing his own recordings, Muddy Waters knew he had what it takes to be a professional musician.

In 1943, followed the path of many Delta musicians, moving north to Chicago. Waters recorded songs for the label that eventually became Chess Records, charting three hits in 1948 with the songs “Rollin’ Stone,” “I Feel Like Going Home,” and “I Can’t Be Satisfied,” which we’ll hear this week.

Waters’ career continued developing and expanding over the next decades; in the 1950s, he continued his charting success, and he recorded and released one of his signature tunes, “Got My Mojo Working.” He performed at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1960, and in the years that followed, he embarked on several European tours. Waters also collaborated with a storied roster of musicians, including Bo Diddley, Levon Helm, Junior Wells, Pinetop Perkins, and Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones.

In the 1970s, the accolades started rolling in; from 1972 to 1980, Muddy Waters’ albums won six Grammy Awards. He was invited to play at the Montreux Jazz Festival on several occasions, and at his hometown ChicagoFest. In 1980, Muddy Waters was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in Memphis.

Muddy Waters died of heart failure at his home in Westmont, Illinois, in 1983. He is memorialized with street names, murals and historical markers in his home state of Mississippi as well as in his adopted hometown of Chicago. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, and in 1992, the Recording Academy presented Muddy Waters with a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award.

Classic Americana Playlist

External Link

Muddy Waters – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee site