1972 Blues Concert at BG Offered More Than Music

In 1972, McKinley Morganfield, aka Muddy Waters, won his first Grammy Award, for Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording for They Call Me Muddy Waters, a 1971 album of previously unreleased recordings. Later in 1972, he flew to England to record the album The London Muddy Waters Sessions. The album was a follow-up to the previous year's The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions, and Chess Records producer Norman Dayron intended the showcase to feature Chicago blues musicians playing with the younger British rock musicians.

Muddy Waters was not satisfied with the results. "These boys are top musicians, they can play with me, put the book before 'em and play it, you know," he told music writer Peter Guralnick. "But that ain't what I need to sell my people, it ain't the Muddy Waters sound. An' if you change my sound, then you gonna change the whole man." He stated, "My blues look so simple, so easy to do, but it's not. They say my blues is the hardest blues in the world to play." Waters, nevertheless, won another Grammy, again for Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording.

He also performed with his band in Bowling Green, Ohio in 1972. Below is the review of the concert published in The BG News as well as the letters to the editor that came in response to the biting commentary. It is a telling exchange that offers insight into the social climate on campus in the early 1970s.

Review: "Muddy Waters Is the Blues"

The BG News, October 11, 1972

By Richard Brase 

On Monday night, a genuine, honest-to-goodness. down-by-the-delta blues band came to campus and generated about as much excitement as your roommate doing his laundry on the weekend.

That is not to say the music was bad---it wasn't. Instead, the Bowling Green audience was not completely able to identify with the music of a downtrodden people. New Orleans blues certainly differs from lamentations over having a chemistry test the next day.

It was under these circumstances that a highly polished group of musicians known as the Muddy Waters Blues Band gave a free concert in the Grand Ballroom of the Union to an estimated crowd of 2.500 persons. 

The six-piece band broke into four jumpy numbers (about as jumpy as the blues can get) before MuddyWaters made his first appearance on stage The audience resounded with a standing ovation 

The impeccably dressed Waters, clad in maroon and white, took a seat on a stool and began to wail on his guitar. His technique was smooth and polished, which also best describes the performances of the rest of the members of the group.

The group is composed of three guitarists. Waters and two others, a bass player; a drummer, a pianist, and tremendous harmonica player, not quite rating in the same class with John Sebastian.

All were fine musicians, especially Fuzz Jones, the bass player.

Waters played five songs, including his hit, "Rolling Stone,'' before breaking for intermission. When the group returned, they maintained the same pace, a slow and grinding beat throughout the second hall of the concert.

Two things which detracted from the performance were the inadequate audio facilities, which made the words of the singers unintelligible, and the minor problem that none of the names of the songs were announced. 

But the largest problem of the evening was that the audience simply did not understand the music played by the Muddy Waters Blues Hand.

The crowd came expecting music which "moved out," but it never happened. The music reflected the lives of the people of the delta---it seemed to be music which was perfect for just allowing people to sit back and listen.

Many people walked away disappointed because they couldn't jump up and "boogie," or cheer to the words of a song which they all knew But there were also many who were content with just listening to some good musicians telling stones through music.

"Blues Take on a New Meaning" for BGSU Student in 1974

"Blues Take on a New Meaning," The BG News, May 1, 1974.

By Montel Jennings

210 Rodgers

Guest Student Columnist

The cover of Blues People by Amiri Baraka (Leroi Jones)

The blues are a part of our tradition reflecting not only the history of the black man in America, but also the prodding changes of civilization as it grew from the farm to the factory, and from small rural townships to the larger cities. 

Although the blues can reside only with black people, it also accurately reflects the movements, trends and changing atmosphere of American society as a whole. 

Today the blues are taking on a new meaning because at no other time in history has the large black populous been on the verge of achieving a sense of equality with the larger white majority. 

FREEDOM, anti-racism and black power are the keynotes for a movement that is attempting to move the black man away from subservience, hypocrisy and second-rate American citizenship. 

A large part of current change is due to evolution and the almost frenetic pace of contemporary society. All men, whether black or white, when the proper time arises, will attempt to claim the few universal rights which should ideally govern one man's relationship to his fellow man.

The blues in the early years dealt with the black man's interaction with his new environment, the oppressive struggles of work, torment and the never-ending fear of an unpredictable future. 

THESE VERY tangible, unendurable hardships permeated a good deal of the early music. Lack of hope and incentive will weaken a man; driving away all feeling of hope and he eventually arrives at the point where he no longer wishes to work, realizing that the road is endless.

Feelings and moods changed as this country grew, for the blues spoke for an entire people, cleansing the impurities of everyday life and giving sustenance for one's day today existence. Like any musical form, it slowly evolved as this country began to grow and expand. New elements were injected into the music as the black man's needs and scope broadened. 

THE HISTORY of the blues is in essence a study in self-realization. That is to say that, as the black man's perspective of himself in relation to society changed, his music changed in almost direct proportion. In the early years, the question of freedom was always very remote; it was thought about, but more often than not. it was only a pleasant dream never to be actually enjoyed. 

But as the years passed through Civil War and Reconstruction, the black man's feeling about himself and his new status came to the fore with a more pressing Immediacy. 

Each new problem that faced the newly emancipated slave was dealt with in song; such as the movement away from the plantation, searching for work, on the rails, and finally the mass migration to the big city in search of new opportunities and a supposedly new grasp of life.

Traditional blues varied with interpretation. It was happy, sad. melancholy and always mournfully soulful. To the present time, the blues still reflect the enforced isolation or cultural separation resulting from an entire group's one outstanding common bond-skin pigmentation. 

THE BLUES of today represents a synthesis of all that preceded it, primarily in terms of textual contents and musical form. Early blues tended to be a purer form in that the degree of outside influences were negligible. While enslaved, the black man's musical frame of reference was quite limited. Plantation life and the unending tortures of work served as the primary textual motivation. 

However, the form and drive of this early music was still rooted in an African culture whose influences were to slowly dissipate as time obliviated memories of a past life. The early music revealed a rhythmic structure that utilized polyrhythms. exotic syncopated patterns and had a responsorial flavor never before heard in this country. 

These early characteristics remained, but as the black man's life became more complicated, new influences were to slowly alter basic forms and content. 

Today the blues are a sophisticated art form whose rhythmic and formal structures are over expanding The relaxed down-home quality of much of early rural blues has given way to a form that is not only musically interesting, but aggressive and proud in all its aspects. 

A GOOD part of early blues music was not written down and many singers and writers are to this day still anonymous. Words and music were passed down from father to son, generation to generation, never to be formally recorded in musical history. 

The work songs, chain gang songs, and gospel music were a source of relief and were a socially acceptable way for a singer to give voice to his innermost feelings.

It is now. more than ever, one of the black man's creative tools, proudly enforcing his equality, his manliness, and his right to be free in a country that has denied his existence for well over a hundred years. 

Traditional 12-bar blues' patterns and rather simple guitar accompaniments are being replaced by more elaborate instrumental ensembles utilizing sophisticated recording techniques. Some of the contemporary blues artists are using rhythm and blues effects, ensemble groups and a basic rock foundation to forcibly drive home a point. 

THE BLUES will never cease to be sung it will only change as time alters and redefines the black man's plight in this country.

1972 Blues Concert at BG Offered More Than Music

In 1972, McKinley Morganfield, aka Muddy Waters, won his first Grammy Award, for Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording for They Call Me Muddy Waters, a 1971 album of previously unreleased recordings. Later in 1972, he flew to England to record the album The London Muddy Waters Sessions. The album was a follow-up to the previous year's The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions, and Chess Records producer Norman Dayron intended the showcase to feature Chicago blues musicians playing with the younger British rock musicians.

Muddy Waters was not satisfied with the results. "These boys are top musicians, they can play with me, put the book before 'em and play it, you know," he told music writer Peter Guralnick. "But that ain't what I need to sell my people, it ain't the Muddy Waters sound. An' if you change my sound, then you gonna change the whole man." He stated, "My blues look so simple, so easy to do, but it's not. They say my blues is the hardest blues in the world to play." Waters, nevertheless, won another Grammy, again for Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording.

He also performed with his band in Bowling Green, Ohio in 1972. Below is the review of the concert published in The BG News as well as the letters to the editor that came in response to the biting commentary. It is a telling exchange that offers insight into the social climate on campus in the early 1970s.

Review: "Muddy Waters Is the Blues"

The BG News, October 11, 1972

By Richard Brase 

On Monday night, a genuine, honest-to-goodness. down-by-the-delta blues band came to campus and generated about as much excitement as your roommate doing his laundry on the weekend.

That is not to say the music was bad---it wasn't. Instead, the Bowling Green audience was not completely able to identify with the music of a downtrodden people. New Orleans blues certainly differs from lamentations over having a chemistry test the next day.

It was under these circumstances that a highly polished group of musicians known as the Muddy Waters Blues Band gave a free concert in the Grand Ballroom of the Union to an estimated crowd of 2.500 persons. 

The six-piece band broke into four jumpy numbers (about as jumpy as the blues can get) before MuddyWaters made his first appearance on stage The audience resounded with a standing ovation 

The impeccably dressed Waters, clad in maroon and white, took a seat on a stool and began to wail on his guitar. His technique was smooth and polished, which also best describes the performances of the rest of the members of the group.

The group is composed of three guitarists. Waters and two others, a bass player; a drummer, a pianist, and tremendous harmonica player, not quite rating in the same class with John Sebastian.

All were fine musicians, especially Fuzz Jones, the bass player.

Waters played five songs, including his hit, "Rolling Stone,'' before breaking for intermission. When the group returned, they maintained the same pace, a slow and grinding beat throughout the second hall of the concert.

Two things which detracted from the performance were the inadequate audio facilities, which made the words of the singers unintelligible, and the minor problem that none of the names of the songs were announced. 

But the largest problem of the evening was that the audience simply did not understand the music played by the Muddy Waters Blues Hand.

The crowd came expecting music which "moved out," but it never happened. The music reflected the lives of the people of the delta---it seemed to be music which was perfect for just allowing people to sit back and listen.

Many people walked away disappointed because they couldn't jump up and "boogie," or cheer to the words of a song which they all knew But there were also many who were content with just listening to some good musicians telling stones through music.

Deconstructing the Dockery Myth

B.B. King at Dockery Farms in the 1970s

In their “Response” (vol. 50, no. 1, Spring 2019) to T. DeWayne Moore’s article “Revisiting Ralph Lembo” (vol. 49, no. 2, Fall 2018), Edward Komara and Gayle Dean Wardlow cite my research and publications as the primary endorsement of their position that famed Mississippi blues artist Charley Patton was “discovered” and sent north to record for Paramount Records by H. C. Speir, as Wardlow has long claimed, rather than by Ralph Lembo, as suggested recently by Moore. I would like to clarify my position on this matter in the light of recent research, including Moore’s article. In the interest of full disclosure, let me state that I provided advice and information to Moore in the preparation of his article, although its conclusions are his own. I regret that this matter of who “discovered” Patton may be currently overshadowing Patton’s own greatness as an artist, but the controversy is not trivial and actually has importance beyond Charley Patton. It speaks to issues of research methodology and the “established facts” that researchers accept and perpetuate, sometimes for decades.

By way of background for readers, Charley Patton first recorded for Paramount on June 14, 1929, at the Gennett studio in Richmond, Indiana. He made two subsequent recording sessions for Paramount in its new studio in Grafton, Wisconsin, in late January/early February 1930 and August 1930, and one session for American Record Corporation’s Vocalion label in New York City on January 30-31 and February 1, 1934. At the time of his first session Patton’s home was somewhere in the Delta in the northwestern part of Mississippi. Speir was based in Jackson, Mississippi, a hundred miles or more from Patton’s home. Lembo was based in Itta Bena, Mississippi, in the Delta. Both Speir and Lembo were the owners of music/record stores in their respective locations and had already sent or brought other African American musicians to recording studios.