Various Artists

Muddy Waters 100

Raisin’ Music RM 2015

(15 tracks, 54:15)

by Eric Steiner

Larry Skoller’s Raisin’ Music just released Muddy Waters 100, the officially-recognized centennial tribute to the life and legacy of Chicago blues legend McKinley Morganfield, best known as Muddy Waters. Muddy Waters 100 features a “who’s who” in contemporary and traditional blues, including Billy Branch, Gary Clark Jr., Steve Gibons, Derek Trucks, Shemekia Copeland, James Cotton, Bob Margolin, Keb’ Mo’ and the late Johnny Winter; each of these blues artists contribute very special, and traditional, interpretations of Muddy Waters classics like “Got My Mojo Working,” “Still a Fool,” “Rosalie,” “Can’t Get No Grindin’” and the set’s closer, “Feel Like Going Home.” Longtime Muddy Waters’ bandmate/guitarist John Primer leads The Living History Band on each song with Matthew Skoller on harp, Billy Flynn on guitar, Johnny Iguana on keys, Felton Crews on bass and Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith (who is the son of veteran Muddy Waters drummer, the late Willie “Big Eyes” Smith). Primer is the main vocalist on the entire 15-track disc and he nails each Muddy tune with gusto and authority. He also plays guitar on most of the songs, bringing authenticity to his ex-boss’s music.

On Muddy Waters 100, the talent behind the mixing board, camera lens and computer keyboard is arguably as accomplished as the musicians in the studio. Produced by Larry Skoller and assistant producer Vincent Bucher, Muddy Waters 100 was recorded and mixed by Blaise Barton at Chicago’s JoyRide Studios. Larry Skoller is a Grammy-nominated producer for his work with the Heritage Blues Orchestra on the excellent …And Still I Rise CD and the Chicago Blues: A Living History compilation. While that disc’s follow-up, Chicago Blues: A Living History, The (R)evolution Continues didn’t get a Grammy nod, it did garner the Best Traditional Album of the Year honors at the 2012 Blues Music Awards in Memphis from The Blues Foundation. Blaise Barton, along with producer Michael Freeman, also earned a 2010 Grammy for their work on Joined at the Hip that featured long-time Muddy Waters bandmates Joe Willie “Pinetop” Perkins and Willie “Big Eyes” Smith. 

While the majority of the songs on Muddy Waters 100 are performed in a traditional blues style, there are a few songs that are updated with technology that did not exist in Muddy’s lifetime. On “Mannish Boy,” Blaise Barton adds drum loop programming to update this song from 1955 to 2015, and Barton also adds similar effects on “Trouble No More.” On “Forty Days and Forty Nights,” Kenny “Beady Eyes” Smith subtly adds a polyrhythmic touch with electronic drums that updates a song from the 1950s that originally featured Chicago blues harmonica greats Little Walter and James Cotton. Overall, Muddy Waters 100 offers up a mix of traditional and contemporary interpretations of Muddy Waters’ work; none of the drum loop programming or additional beats are jarring or out-of-place. The producers took extra care in honoring and featuring Muddy Waters alumni and present 15 songs in an easily-accessible format; however this is a far cry from such EDM-influenced blues experiments from the critically-acclaimed Tangle Eye (Alan Lomax’s Southern Journey Revisited) or Hard Garden (Wild Blue Yonder).  

The packaging of Muddy Waters 100 is exceptional: the Skoller brothers outdid themselves by featuring a colorful and informative 48-page CD-sized booklet that includes pictures that thoughtfully document Muddy Waters’ journey from Clarksdale, Mississippi in the early 1940s, his arrival in Chicago in the early 1950s, practicing his craft in nightclubs in the 1960s and celebrating Father’s Day with his family in the 1970s. The booklet also includes photos from Paul Natkin, John Wesley Work III, D. Shigley, Art Shay and Mark Pokempner. Also included are essays by producer Larry Skoller and Muddy Waters’ biographer Robert Gordon, the Grammy-winning author of the definitive Muddy Waters biography, Can’t Can't Be Satisfied - The Life and Times of Muddy Waters, published in 2003 by the prestigious Little Brown imprint, Back Bay Books.

      Taken together, Muddy Waters 100 is the real blues deal as it presents McKinley Morganfield’s music in context of his five-decade career in the blues. The contemporary production and arrangements breathe new life into Muddy's classic old tunes and show their timelessness.

     This CD will likely land on my Top 10 list of 2015 thanks to the expertise in front of and behind the microphones that features some of the finest Chicago blues talent in print and on record.

For info, visit: http://www.muddywaters100.com/

Eric Steiner is the Editor of the Washington Blues Society Bluesletter and the immediate past president of the Washington Blues Society.  He served on the Blues Foundation Board of Directors from 2010 to 2013, and he is a frequent contributor to the Chicago Blues Guide.