VARIOUS ARTISTS
A Tribute To Muddy Waters, King Of The Blues
(Hybrid Recordings)
Reviewed by Eric Steiner

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The Kennedy Center honored Muddy Waters' blues legacy with a tribute concert for PBS in October, 1997. Sure to please those who have missed the King Bee, Hybrid Recordings has captured that all-star blues event in A Tribute to Muddy Waters, King Of the Blues. This exciting release features a few of Muddy's contemporaries as well as some new blues blood. Buddy Guy unwinds on his favorite Muddy Waters song, "She's Just Nineteen Years Old," and Koko Taylor's "Long Distance Call" simmers along with Steady Rollin' Bob Margolin's slide guitar and Charlie Musselwhite's harp in a first-class house band. Keb' Mo plays the sweltering acoustic country blues of "I Can't Be Satisfied," and Big Bill Morganfield does an attention-getting "Hoochie Coochie Man." These outstanding performances show that two of the blues' rising stars have taken Muddy's music to heart. There's some great surprises, too: Phoebe Snow shows she's quite a blues shouter as she sings "Just to Be With You" and John Hiatt snarls through "The Same Thing." A Tribute to Muddy Waters brings back the hottest ticket in Washington, D.C. in the Fall of 1997 and a chance to celebrate Muddy Waters’ considerable contributions to the blues. The disc opens with Muddy singing "Trouble No More" and closes with one of his signature tunes, "Got My Mojo Working." Between those two classics are ten outstanding performances that honor the past, present and future of the blues.

Track List:

Trouble No More (Muddy Waters) * I Can't Be Satisfied (Keb' Mo) * She's Nineteen Years Old (Buddy Guy) Just To Be With You (Phoebe Snow) *The Same Thing (John Hiatt) * Gypsy Woman (Mem Shannon) * Rollin' And Tumblin' (Peter Wolf) * Long Distance Call (Koko Taylor) * Mean Red Spider (Robert Junior Lockwood) * Forty Days & Forty Nights (Nick Gravenites) * Hoochie Coochie Man (Big Bill Morganfield) * Got My Mojo Workin' (Muddy Waters)

© 1999 - Eric Steiner