Browsing: muddy waters

Before he wrote “Hoochie Coochie Man,” Willie Dixon boxed in Chicago. His pivot from ring to pen shaped electric blues and rock.

A waitress named Mary changed everything: how teen harp fan Charlie Musselwhite went from wallflower to Muddy Waters sideman.

Buddy Guy arrived in Chicago expecting glory. What he found was poverty, danger, and a Muddy Waters moment that rewired the blues.

Alan Lomax recorded Muddy Waters at Stovall in 1941-42. One playback, $20, and a jukebox helped ignite Chicago blues (and rock).