Runco's Weekly Music - Muddy Waters - I'm Ready

There is just something about the blues of the 40's and 50's that is very special. It's almost the result of what some have described as a 'perfect storm.' As I understand it, during the early to mid 1900's each plantation in the south would have a group of black workers from a number of different regions of Africa. The interesting thing is that each of those parts of Africa were very different and had their own unique music style - and music over there was a huge part of their lives -- So over the years (1700's - 1900's), as African communities came together in America... styles were mixed. Some regions of Africa were very percussive, others into string instruments, others had very unique vocal styles, etc. When you blend all this together you end up with things like... a guitar player using the top end of a broken glass bottle as a guitar 'slide' -- to emulate a harsh, 'gritty' sound that was actually the preferred vocal sound of a particular region of Africa... doing call and response -- a custom of another region - between guitar and vocal, all the while playing in a percussive style from another region, and potentially even borrowing some aspects from European music... which the blacks learned to play so that they could be the entertainment at white people's parties and so forth. The stories behind blues musicians are also great. Muddy Waters, for example... was poor and worked on a plantation, and was basically known as a popular musician around his community <b>...</b>



































