Charles H. Stewart (born 1927)
Gelatin silver print, c. 1960
Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University © Chuck Stewart
Muddy Waters carried himself like the blues king of Chicago. Born McKinley Morganfield, he was a singer, guitarist, songwriter, and bandleader. Waters was the central figure in the shift from country to urban blues and from acoustic to electric blues. He was the musical symbol of the Great Migration from South to North: his band captured the sound of industrial cities with pounding factory rhythms, searing guitar riffs, and wailing harmonicas while his own stinging vocals surged into the mix. He was idolized by the musicians of the British invasion, and his records were passed hand to hand. He wrote many classic blues songs: “Got My Mojo Workin’” is akin to a blues national anthem; “The Blues Had a Baby (And They Named It Rock and Roll)” captures music history in a song title; and his “Rollin’ Stone” inspired the magazine, the band name, and Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone.”