Mud Morganfield – Deep Mud
14 Tracks – 69 minutes
Mud Morganfield is the son of McKinley “Muddy Waters” Morganfield. He grew up in an apartment complex that was owned by the Chess Brothers. Many of the Chess Records artists had apartments there including Bo Diddley. Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy. His mother, Mildred McGhee was Muddy’s girlfriend during his years at Chess. But he noted that Muddy and his wife, Geneva, lived nearby at another residence. That Chess connection immersed Mud in the blues from an early age.
Mud’s recording career started in 2008 with his self-produced debut album, Fall Waters Fall. A 2014 album was a tribute to his father, For Pops – A Tribute to Muddy Waters. This is his seventh album consisting of twelve original songs and two covers of his father’s songs.
Mud is the lead vocalist for all songs. Rick Kreher and Mike Wheeler are the guitarists, Melvin “Pooky Styx” Carlisle plays drums, Studebaker John plays harmonica, E.G. McDaniels on bass, Sumito Ariyo Ariyoshi plays piano on eight cuts, with Roosevelt Purifoy on piano and organ on five cuts, Rodrigo Mantovani on upright bass on one cut, Phil Perkins on trumpet and backing vocals by Felicia Collins, Kristen Lowe, Jacole Avent, and Demetrias M. Hall.
The album starts out with a rollicking Chicago blues and Mud demanding “Bring Me My Whiskey” and “my girl by my side”. “Gonna lay my head down in my baby’s lap”. Rick pulls out his slide guitar before Mud further explains “I don’t want no vodka cause vodka makes me sick. Don’t want no gin, gin always makes me sin”. Sumito’s honky-tonk piano tears through the next song as Mud says he wants a “Big Frame Woman” to “hold him tight and treat me right”. Muddy’s song “Strange Woman” finds Mud pushing a slightly deeper voice emulating his father’s vocals style. Mud plays the bass for this track as he asks her “Can I go home with you?”
Studebaker John’s harmonica is featured as Mud tells her “Don’t Leave Me” “here all by myself cause if you walk out that door, you can’t come back no more”. Phil’s trumpet and Roosevelt’s organ kick up the beat for a funky party atmosphere on “She’s Getting Her Groove On”. “Ernestine” again features Studebaker John, Roosevelt on piano and organ, and Rick’s powerhouse guitar as Mud begs “Ernestine, will you marry me? I ‘ll give you anything, anything that you need”.
“Strike Like Lightning” is slow, down and dirty Chicago blues. Mud notes “the little girl strikes like lightning, she’s more dangerous than any sting”. Phil’s trumpet is back at the center and Roosevelt keeps things jumping as Mud says he wants to be the “Cosigner Man” and says ” all I ask of you is that you let me come by some time”. “Bring me my checkbook and I’ll make it out to you.” On “Lover Man”, he tells her she “shakes it just like a willow tree” with Studebaker John again getting the groove on.
He then tells her “You can’t keep running “In and Out of My Life” that drops back to a smooth R&B sound from the early 60’s with backing vocals and Sumito’s piano floating through the song. He does note that she told him that “she has a husband… and we were through”. “The Man That You You’re With” moves back to slow blues as he laments “I may not be the man you’re with, but I know I am the man you need”. On “Carolina”, Mud tells her “If you make love to me, you are moving too fast, you’ve got to make it last”.
A cover of Muddy’s “Country Boy” tells the tale of a man has concerns that you “can’t say I don’t love you, I am just a country boy that likes to stay out all night”. Rodrigo’s upright bass drives the rhythm here. If Mud honors his father with the covers, “A Dream Walking” is a tribute and love song to his deceased mother. He notes “If my father was a rolling stone then my mother must have been so strong cause I can’t remember one day that she let us alone. You know life has its twists and turns, but a mother’s love is what we learn'”. “Have you ever heard an angel sing? If I only had one wish – to see my mother in my dreams” as Roosevelt supplies a spiritual organ accompaniment.
In the album’s liner notes Mud states ” Listen Man, It’s Chicago blues. None of that rock-blues”. ” I talk and sing about real things, real live people, real situations, things that people go through, from falling in love to beautiful women. So, it’s Chicago Blues at its best. They ain’t trying to do that no more, but that’s what it is”. I certainly cannot express the sound of this album any better than that. Muddy would certainly be proud that his son continues to provide the music style developed by his father and extending it with new material in that same form.
