Thoughts On Muddy Waters

Monday morning, I finally received the new guitar I’ve been waiting on. I bought this guitar specifically to keep in an open tuning for playing with a slide. I do some slide things in standard tuning but, to me, it’s almost a different instrument than using a guitar tuned to an open G or D chord. I’ve always been a big fan of delta blues and the open tunings are the secret to that sound.

Ever since I got the new guitar I’ve been immersing myself in the world of slide guitar. I have been conjuring up old blues songs that I haven’t played in years. I’ve also been thinking about a lot of my favorite slide guitarists, Robert Johnson, Elmore James, Earl Hooker, Johnny Winter, Duane Allman, Lowell George and Rory Gallagher are just a few from a long list. It struck me that I never really have sat down with the recordings and figured out what any of these guys were doing note for note. To me, there is something about slide playing that is really from the gut; something that transcends the notes being played. That got me to thinking about Muddy Waters.

Muddy Waters Photo by Peter Sherman

Now, if someone, who has never heard any blues music, needs a place to start; I would recomend Muddy Waters. Muddy is a perfect example of the link between rural blues and electric blues. If you go back and listen to the Library of Congress field recordings that Alan Lomax did in the early ’40s, you will hear Muddy playing Robert Johnson/Son House inspired delta blues and doing it well. A few years later, Muddy was in Chicago, the amps were on and all bets were off. I have been asked; “What do you think Robert Johnson would have sounded like with an electric guitar, a big amplifier and a band with drums?” I suspect that Waters wasn’t far off the mark.

Muddy had that huge, unmistakable voice and great songs. He always had a top-notch band as well. The one thing that seems to get overlooked sometimes is Muddy’s guitar playing. Here is a quote from long time Waters’ sideman and fine blues guitarist in his own right, Bob Margolin.

Muddy Waters is not more widely credited with being a great slide guitar player only because his singing, his legendary position in the Blues World, and his charisma are pretty distracting. But his slide guitar playing was so powerful that he could never be upstaged, even by other guitar players whom we consider to be great.

Muddy Waters was a brilliant slide guitarist. His slide playing was a pure form of communication. Sometimes music can make you feel something more completely than words can express. When Muddy played a slide solo over a slow blues he almost always used what appears to be a similar musical theme. What I mean there is, the notes he chose to play were almost always the same, especially at the beginning of the solo. Within that framework though, each one was totally different and the difference is in the emotion. He would sometime make the slide sound like a snarling dog and other times be subtle and playful or, even comical. So, the actual notes weren’t as important as the stuff around them. I found this fine example of the song “Long Distance Call” on YouTube.

That is, by the way, Bob Margolin on second guitar. Seeing this video reminded me of a night shortly after Muddy’s passing when I saw this same band (Margolin, Jerry Portnoy, Pine Top Perkins, Willie Smith) when, I think, they were touring as maybe, the Legendary Blues Band or, something like that. There are a couple of things that stick out in my mind about that night. First, I went to the show with a guitar player buddy of mine. We didn’t know who was going to be playing that night and as we were walking up the alley to the club we heard the band and I said to my friend; “I don’t know who that is but it sure sounds like Willie “Big Eyes” Smith playing drums”. Sure enough, it was and that says a lot when you can recognize a drummer’s style from the alley. Smith has a shuffle groove that is all his own.

The other thing I remember was seeing the club owner as we entered and I said something to the effect of; “I didn’t know these guys were in town, I hope we didn’t miss much”. To which he replied; “No, these guys started late because the piano player wouldn’t go on until he had some cognac. I didn’t have any in the bar so; I had to run to the liquor store”. I got a kick out that for some reason. Pine Top played his ass off that night and I’m glad the club owner made the cognac run.