Muddy Waters was having quite an influence in the recording industry and in music. Not only was he influencing them directly but he was spinning off other influences such as guitarist Jimmy Rogers and harpist Little Walter. Walter had a big hit among the rocknroll set in 1955 with “My Babe”—a straight up 12-bar blues. Rogers retired from music in the early 60s but his recordings are now being noticed.
After Little Walter left Muddy’s band, his place was taken over by Junior Wells. Although not quite the equal with Little Walter, Wells quickly starting making his own niche both with Muddy and blues music overall.
Inroads were being blazed and paved into the consciousness and tastes of the white public. Whites could no longer ignore Muddy Waters and they didn’t want to.
Muddy at 21. He had just received a pressing of the recordings he made for Alan Lomax. Muddy found the occasion so special that he donned his best Sunday suit and posed holding his record. This is the first photo ever taken of Muddy Waters. Clearly the suit is a hand-me-down as the pants are a tad short.
With his star rising among the white public, Muddy had money now. He could buy things he could only have dreamed of from his sharecropping days—a decent house, a Cadillac, beautiful women—and Muddy did buy all those things. He wasn’t filthy rich but he wasn’t dirt poor anymore. In Britain, Muddy granted an interview to
Melody Maker magazine. The interviewer, Max Jones, asked Muddy if his newfound wealth now made him less of a convincing blues figure. Muddy answered: “There’s no way in the world I can feel the same blues the way I used to. When I play in Chicago, I’m playing up-to-date, not the blues I was born with. People should hear the pure blues—the blues we used to have when we had no money. I’m talking about when you couldn’t even buy moonshine, a hot dog even. When you are making thirty-five cents a day.” Muddy then pulled a wad of cash from his pocket and waved it. “How can I have that kind of blues with this in my pocket?” So how, Jones asked Muddy, could he still be legitimately able to sing the blues? Muddy tapped his temple and said, “Cuz I have a long memory.”
