Issue Date: September 17, 1994
City: Greenville, MS
Quantity: 24,986,800
Printed By: Ashton-Potter
Printing Method: Lithographed
Perforations: 11 x 10.8
Color: Multicolored

 

McKinley Morganfield was born in Mississippi in 1915. He learned to play harmonica and guitar early on, and soon everyone knew him as Muddy Waters. Muddy’s first recordings were made in 1941 by archivists preserving Negro folk music for the Library of Congress. Two years later, he moved to Chicago, a haven for blues musicians. His uncle bought him an electric guitar, and Muddy formed a band.

 

1951 was a great year for Muddy. His records for the Aristocrat label were being played on black radio stations all over the south. One of Chicago’s best blues clubs, Smitty’s Corner, made Muddy Waters the house band. And what a band it was! Each musician was a top-rate entertainer – there were too many greats to list! From there Muddy’s fame grew to legendary proportions – but it was not until the 1960s and ’70s that the general public became aware of his music.

 

Muddy’s band had a distinctive sound with wailing harmonica, heavy piano, bass, and drum rhythms, and slashing slide guitar from Muddy. Perhaps the band’s greatest feature was Muddy’s physical, aggressive vocals, which were drenched with emotion. His most popular tunes were “Forty Days and Forty Nights,” “Hootchie Coochie Man,” and “Mannish Boy.”