(April 2024) Episode 562 is MUDDY WATERS. As the “father of the Chicago blues,” it’s hard to measure his impact. He helped make Chicago a capital of blues music, fronting and fostering many famous musicians and songwriters of the genre. Any listener of classic rock will immediately recognize his influence there, as so many rock groups covered and adapted his songs. Personally, I like best his 1940s-early 1950s recordings, which accords with my preference among blues music for the earlier generation of acoustic guitar performers (Johnson, Jefferson, Patton, Cotton, etc.). However, I must admit that the electric blues style, the one he is most famous for, tends to lose my attention fairly quickly. And I have idiosyncratic taste for his 1968 album “Electric Mud,” considered the nadir of his career by critics, but for me it’s Muddy deliciously awash in fuzzed up psychedelic guitar.
Favorite album: Folk Singer
Favorite song: Feel Like Goin’ Home
Guilty pleasure album: Electric Mud
Compared to expectations: same
Recommendation: There are lots of compilation albums, but I suggest “His Best: 1947 to 1955”
Opus Project 