muddy waters essays

muddy waters essays Muddy Waters was the patriarch of the post-World War II Chicago blues. He was a master artist who played slashing slide guitar with an earthy raspy voice who had seen his share of sorrow in life. Muddy was also a compelling songwriter; a storyteller in song. He was a master performer, recording artist and bandleader. His had a way of juicing up the music with a rocking backbeat and an unfiltered down-home intensity; he possessed an honesty and emotional clarity. He was able to use the blues to speak about human suffering, joy and truth and became one of the best blues artists and white people loved him. He began the revolution and electrified the Delta blues, disseminated the sound and therefore became known as the Chicago blues. Muddy was one of the most important musicians of the century, he reshaped the sound of the blues and set it on a new path. He set the stage for the music's next development, rock Muddy Waters was born McKinley Morganfield in Rolling Fork, Mississippi in 1915. His father used to sing to him constantly as a baby until his mother died when he was three. At that time his father shipped him off to live with his grandmother on a plantation with whom he lived until 1943. His grandmother was a big influence taking him to church where he learned to love gospel music and sang in the choir. Living in poverty and working the cotton fields, the gospel blues was a way of dealing with being poor. He played by the river in the dirty water where his grandmother called him "Muddy". The local kids would make fun of his name and added "Waters" and that is ...