page 6
daily nebraskan
monday, march 2, 1981
Powerful Muddy Waters continues blues legend
By Casey McCabe In his early days of performing (singing
and playing harmonica), Muddy's local
McKinley Morganfield was born on popularity took him from a salary of 50
Sunday, April 4, 1915 in Rolling Fork, cents a nigbt (plus a fish sandwich and a
Miss. His mother died when hf u thr half oint of moonshine) at anc 13. to SIX
ot
and his father sent him to a Clarksdale
plantation to be raised by his grandmother.
Morganfiled used to sneak out and play
in the mud when he was little, so his grand
mother called him Muddy. His friends add-
O'A v v
ed the last part. Waters, and the nickname
has come to represent one of the most
influential blues artists of the last 40 years.
It lias taken the popularity of blues
based on rock V roll, and the promotional
backing of CBS Records to give Muddy
a night in the 1930s. Often a "night
playing meant 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.
It wasn't until age 17 that Waters began
playing the guitar, showing the influence of
Robert Johnson, Son House and other
early Delta bluesmen who pioneered the
"bottleneck" style on guitar.
In 1941, two folk researchers came to
the Clarksdale plantation, where Waters
was working, and made recordings of his
raw, unamplified country blues for the Li
brary of Congress. His work around that
time was viewed as a refreshing dose of re
ality from the music-stifled blues that was
prevalent during the wartime.
In 1943, like many black Southerners,
Waters left the Delta to move north to Chi
cago, working in a paper mill and as a
truck driver. In the many local clubs of
Waters his world-wide recognition of
late. But among the musical community it
self, Muddy has long been an inspirational Chicago, Muddy became influenced by Big
ngure representing tne powerful pnmative Bill Broonzy and Sonny Boy Williamson,
style wrought from the Delta blues. He was soon to buy his first electric guitar
83$
and surround himself with some of the
greatest sidemen the blues has known, inc
luding Jimmy Rogers, Little Walter, Willie
Dixon, James Cotton, Francis Clay, Fred
die Below, Pat Hare, Walter Horton, Luther
Tucker and Waters' half-brother, Otis
Spann.
Charting Waters' influence in the music
of this century is not difficult. For in
stance, his 1954 song "Rollin' Stone" has
been acknowledged as the inspiration for
Bob Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone,"
and the basis for the British rock band and
the popular American music magazine of
the same name. It also has been noted that
Jimi Hendrix taught himself to play the
guitar by listening to Muddy Waters rec
ords. When asked about groups sflch as the
Rolling Stones and the Allman Brothers
Band, who have earned small fortunes
from his songs. Muddy says, "I don't ever
give it a thought. If they had never started
taking my stuff, I don't know that I could
have moved up."
The years haven't dimmed Waters' pow
er. Last year, 8,000 people jammed a Chic
ago stage to see the legend in person. The
police, it was reported, were hard pressed
to "keep the place from exploding."
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475 1865
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Apply in person at
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For details write: SUMMER
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Manager for new jeans store.
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Send resume to S. Williams, Box
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Waters Thursday night appearance in
Lincoln found a slightly more subdued,
but no less appreciative, sell-out crowd in
Kimball Hall, an auditorium more familiar
with the aesthetics of ballet, symphony
and opera.
Leading off for the Fourth Annual
Great Plains Blues Festival was Lincoln's
own blues institution, the Heart Murmurs.
Down to a foursome in the last year,
the band still responds with characteristic
tightness. Taking a majority of the spot
light was Jim Cidlik on piano and vocals,
displaying a virtuosity that could keep him
in the company of any blues band in the
country. Also in usual good form was Sean
Benjamin, whose talent also goes beyond
the blues guitar monopoly he has in the
city.
But there was no doubt who the man of
the evening was. After a warm-up by the
capable but unemotional Muddy Waters
ill
"ft. I)
-
MfypTj A violent night storm. A
O ' J mysterious taven on a lonely
Y JL LJf road. A group o! strangers
J a delirious woman in black, a
. '"Ti V 1 nameless vagabond who
LfPy ' reveU in ft "glorious"
ffifkj 'vi l 1 ' torm a harried governor, his
I'v'-T i v'i I J J wife and daughter and his
1V hi mJr ,au9nter' fiance seek
I If .r i I i shelter. A crash ol thunder. A
' lr C&VMW flash of lightning. A gun snot!
Li ' LvJ IF Anything can happen before
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with gigs; vocals preferred; no
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MARCH 4.
Photo by Mark Billingsley
Muddy Waters
band, the man himself strode onstage,
strapped on his chipped and primitive 1957
Fender Telecaster, and slipped into a blues
personna that few could hope to match.
Muddy is 65 now and still touring heav
ily. He keeps his guitar work elemental, sits
on a stool for much of a performance,
and wears earplugs. But one thing he has
that only increases with his age is his
presence. Waters has a riviting look that
keeps his music timeless.
Sidemen John Primer and Rick Kreher
may be faster and more accurate now than
Waters, but by jus! watching them view
Muddy during a show reveals where their
respect lies, and that is on the man in the
spotlight. Waters often would use his slide
to produce the night's most torrid guitar
work, but it was the growling vocals of the
evr virile Muddy Waters that makes his
show most rewarding.
"Baby Please Don't Go," "Champagne
and Reefer." and the classic "Got My Mojo
Working." kept the crowd alive, but the
growing anticipation finally burst when
Waters was called out for an encore of
"Mannish Boy." Highly simplistic with
an irresistablc power. Muddy was off his
stool tor this one. and the audience that
had been too comfortable all night,
launched out of their seats as well.
Muddy Waters again proved himself an
American music legend. As a father figure
to an entire generation of musicians, the
chance to see him perform is the only way
to explain the power of his presence
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