Page 54 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine 2013

Bob Margolin and Muddy Waters
in concert in Seattle, WA 100 Years and
Circa 1979 © Jef Jaisun Photography

Muddy Waters

Still Run Deep

Compiled by BFG with excerpts from Ted
Drozdowski and The morganfi eld Family

“I was raised up in Clarksdale... out on a farm − a plantation. I lived a
country life for a long time. A little rough… but came through it. My
grandmother raised me up. Everybody had to work. Little kids, out there
working, ya know, on the farm. I didn’t have no schooling… I fi rst started
blowing harmonica… at about nine years old – when I was 13, I was
doing pretty good with it. When I became about 17-18, I switched over to
guitar. Finally, 1943, I brought it to Chicago. [At fi rst] kinda for the fun of
it, little Saturday night fi sh fries…” - Muddy Waters 1971

The year 2013 commemorates the 100th birthday of blues and raised. And his guitar style was a marvel of invention −
pioneer Muddy Waters (b. April 3, 1913, d. April 30, 1983). rawly precise and emotionally evocative whether rumbling out
We celebrate him here by sharing a conversation from the man the rhythms of “Mannish Boy” or stabbing the air with the keening
himself (recorded in a taxi cab in 1971) and loving quotes from slide of “I Can’t Be Satisfi ed.”
his family members, interspersed within an article about Muddy’s Waters, who was born McKinley Morganfi eld on April
guitar prowess and his infl uence on the Delta and Chicago blues. 4, 1913 in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, a town still relatively
There’s no denying that Muddy Waters still run deep. undisturbed by time, earned his nickname through his habit of

“My husband was a great person – defi nitely a playing in the mud as a child. And, indeed, throughout his 41-
family man. He was always concerned about what was
going on in his kids’ lives. When he was home he was
“home.” His family was the most important thing to
him aside from his music. He was also spontaneous, he
never liked to plan. When he was home from the road,
we would get up in the morning and he’d say, ‘Okay,
let’s go to breakfast,’ or we’d take a long drive. He also
loved to cook, that was his hobby. He was so loving,
giving and down-to-earth – a kind person. He had a
big heart. He had good energy and he made everyone
feel the same. Being married to him was the greatest
experience and I was very proud to be part of his life.”
- Marva Morganfi eld (widow… married 1979-1983)

How guitar giant Muddy Waters patented the
electrifi ed Delta and Chicago blues sound… Back row (Lt-Rt): Otis Spann, Elgin Evans (Muddy’s drummer) and
James Cotton. 1st row, (2nd from left): Muddy Waters and Mildred
Muddy Waters had a voice as deep and elemental as the McGee (Mud Morganfield’s mother) and friends at Silvie’s Lounge,
Mississippi River that cleaves the Delta lands where he was born Chicago. IL. Photo courtesy Mildred McGee and Mud Morganfield

52 Blues Festival Guide 2013