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MUD MORGANFIELD
They Call Me Mud
Severn Records
12 tracks/56:44
by Greg Easterling
There’s the up-tempo
big city blues with horns that most closely resembles the classic groove
of B.B. King and Bobby Blue Bland. You hear that in the title track when
Morganfield makes his bluesy positioning statement and also in many of
the album’s 12 tracks. But he also covers several of his father’s songs,
not necessarily famous ones in which the vocal resemblance to Muddy is
inescapable. Performed in the Mississippi Delta-derived electric blues
pioneered by Muddy in Chicago, it’s obvious that Mud is the son of his
famous father although he was raised in the Windy City by his mother
without the daily presence of Muddy at home. Playing in the classic
style of his father is something that Morganfield does extremely well
but he’s already recorded a Blues Music Award nominated effort.
For Pops: A Tribute to Muddy
Waters, which features Kim Wilson from the Fabulous
Thunderbirds, earned a nod for 2015 Best Traditional Blues Album Award. So there’s no need
to keep making the same record each time out.
Now in his
mid-Sixties, Morganfield needs his own sound that is not a direct
imitation of Muddy Waters. And it’s not like Morganfield has been
playing his whole life. A truck driver by trade, he started performing
on Chicago’s South Side after Muddy’s death in 1983. One only wonders
what Muddy would think if he could see his son playing now.
So Mud wisely
handpicked all the players on the sessions because he knew they could
help him achieve his musical vision. He and Rick Kreher co-produced the
disc, assuring that Mud’s unique identity would be stamped on every
track.
Since Mud plays bass
on several songs, he avoids instrumental comparisons with his father who
was one of the seminal electric blues slide guitar innovators. On this
album, Morganfield lets his father’s onetime sideman Rick Kreher and
veteran Chicago bluesman Billy Flynn handle the guitar parts with
several guest shots from Delmark recording artist Mike Wheeler.
It’s Morganfield’s
vocals and physical resemblance that are most reminiscent of Muddy. It
is truly uncanny at times but not anything that is forced. Mud comes by
it honestly as part of a family tradition that we are privileged to
celebrate. Morganfield is also a writer, penning ten of the album’s 12
tracks, the only exceptions being the two Muddy Waters songs. It is
Mud’s way of honoring his famous father, by always including a Muddy
song or two.
Morganfield takes his
first step this time with the title track, “They Call Me Mud.” Sung over
a B. B. King-like guitar groove, it’s autobiographical as he asserts,
“The blues is my birthright” and recounts the life of a traveling
bluesman: “been around the world/across the ocean/sailing the seven
seas.” And in the tradition of Muddy classics such as “Mannish Boy” and
“Hoochie Coochie Man,” Mud also boasts of supernatural romantic powers
when he sings, “I’m like a mighty hurricane” and “when it comes to
making love, I can bring it all night long”.
Mud follows up his
personal intro with “48 Days,” an up-tempo lament for his departed love,
accented by horn charts well played by Phil Perkins on trumpet and
Michael Jackson on saxophone. Studebaker John Grimaldi is also here with
the first of many piercing harmonica solos. It’s a reoccurring theme
throughout the album, the bluesy horns and blues harp accompaniment,
helping to anchor the record instrumentally.
“Cheatin’ Is Cheatin’”
and “Who’s Foolin’ Who?” may not be the most elegant titles but they do
pick up on a familiar blues theme as Mud drives the point home with
lines like “you can’t make a housewife out of a ho”! Musically, the
latter is a funkier, more percussive approach pressed by Melvin “Pookie
Stix” Carlisle on drums, Bryant “T” Parker on percussion and pianist
Sumito Ariyo Ariyoshi. Studebaker John rocks another noteworthy harp
solo while rising Chicago guitar hero Mike Wheeler also drops in for the
latter, augmenting the solid veteran guitars of Kreher and Flynn.
A Muddy Waters cover
is next. It’s “Howling Wolf,” an ironic title since the real life Wolf
was Muddy’s musical rival at times. “I’m a howling wolf and I’ve been
howling all around your door.” It’s one of the album’s best moments as
Mud inhabits his famous father’s sound with healthy doses of slide
guitar, blues harp and keyboards. After that, Mike Wheeler returns for
“24 Hours” with more inspired soloing from both Mike and Studebaker
John. And Mud claims, “They call me the fireman/I put out every fire I
see.”
The mood changes for
“Who Loves You,” a slow groove seduction that is the album’s longest
track at 5:52. There’s a woman’s touch here, as well, signified by the
vocals of Mud’s daughter, Lashunda Williams, alternating with Mud and
also Anne Harris on violin. This time there’s a sax solo by Michael
Jackson. And lyric lines like “He don’t need you like I need you/cause
if he did, you wouldn’t be here now.”
The more traditional
Chicago blues sound returns next with “Oh Yeah” somewhat reminiscent of
the Muddy Waters classic “Trouble No More.” Again, there’s stellar solos
from harp blower Studebaker John and pianist Ariyoshi, with great guitar
from the Flynn/Kreher crew. Another standout Muddy Waters cover follows,
“Can’t Get No Grindin’,” which was the title track of a lesser known but
still acclaimed Chess release. Mud resurrects it here, sparked by the
band which also includes veteran E.G. McDaniel on bass and backing
vocals on this track.
The uptown sound is
back for the next pair of songs, “Rough Around the Edge” and “Walkin’
Cane.” The former is autobiographical again while the latter dabbles in
more traditional territory lyrically as Mud sings, “Hand me down my
walkin’ cane.” The album comes to an end with an easy going War-like
feel on “Mud’s Groove” and boasts an appearance from the great Billy
Branch who was learning his blues when Mud’s father was still active.
F
Greg Easterling
holds down the 12 midnight – 5 a.m. shift on WDRV (97.1 FM) He also
hosts American Backroads on WDCB (90.9 FM)
Thursdays at 9 p.m.
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