Playing at the blues bars of Chicago’s South Side in the 1940s, Muddy Waters began to assemble what appeared to be an early incarnation of a rock band.
Waters found he couldn’t command much attention unamplified in a crowded, noisy club. So in 1944, he bought his first electric guitar. As a vocalist, he developed a raw and impassioned shouting style.
His groups, which played with all amps cranked, consisted of bass, drums, second guitar, piano, and harmonica, with Waters on slide guitar and vocals. He and a shifting company of stellar sidemen played hard-edged, unadulterated blues, but his bands had the earmarks—in size, volume and attitude—of rock combos to come.
Chess Records did not allow Waters to use his own band on early records, inserting studio musicians in their place.
Muddy Waters was born in Mississippi in 1913 or 1915 – there is conflicting information on the date. His mother died when he was young and was raised by his grandmother. She gave him the nickname ‘Muddy’ for his love of playing in muddy water around the house.
Waters was introduced to music in church. He sold the family’s last horse, splitting the proceeds with his grandmother, and used a part of it to purchase his first guitar. Waters began playing clubs as a teen. His first recording was made by Alan Lomax for the Smithsonian, recorded in his home. It was an inspiration for Waters, who loved hearing his own voice coming from the recording equipment.
Muddy Waters recorded songs that on rose the R&B charts in the ’50s, before crossing over to a more rock-oriented sound for his later records in the ’70s and ’80s. Those later records won four Grammys and resuscitated his career.
Muddy Waters died in 1983 of complications from cancer.
