Track Listing

1. My Home Is in the Delta
2. Long Distance Call
3. My Captain
4. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
5. You're Gonna Need My Help
6. Cold Weather Blues
7. Big Leg Woman
8. Country Boy
9. Feel Like Going Home
10. Same Thing [*]
11. You Can't Lose What You Never Had [*]
12. My John the Conqueror Root [*]
13. Short Dress Woman [*]
14. Put Me in Your Lay Away [*]
15. Put Me in Your Layaway [*]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11074 in Music
• Released on: 1999-07-27
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Amazon.com
Muddy Waters started out playing acoustic blues in the Delta, and it shows on this return to his roots, designed to appeal to the mid-1960s surge of interest in folk music. The back of the CD includes a photo of Waters with bassist and songwriter Willie Dixon, as well as a very young Buddy Guy, gathered around a single microphone. This particular CD reissue includes five bonus tracks, among which are "The Same Thing" and "Short Dress Woman," which take advantage of the longer CD running time. All of the other reasons to hear this one remain--Waters's strong, confident voice, the relaxed smoothness of the material, and the surprisingly clean recording, made even cleaner by the digital remastering. --Genevieve Williams

Customer Reviews

Muddy unplugged; Excellent music and excellent sound quality
I picked up this CD after hearing two of its tracks on Muddy Waters' Best 1956 - 1964. It's a wonderful acoustic blues album. You've got the king of the electric blues, his wonderful voice and slide guitar, you've got legendary songwriter/bassist Willie Dixon, AND, as if that weren't enough, a very young Buddy Guy on lead guitar (who I believe to be the best guitarist in the world). All these ingredients make for one great album. Plus there are bonus tracks to fill out the CD (missing Buddy Guy unfortunately), terrific liner notes and photos, and digital remastering. This CD really, really sounds great. I was blown away by the audio quality. It sounds as if the album were recorded last year. If you like Muddy Waters, acoustic blues, or just great music, check out Folk Singer immediately.

A paradoxical wonder
Nothing is quite so productive of irony as the collision of art and commerce, and this sterling CD is a perfect example. The year is 1964, and the (white) owners of Chess Records are concerned that Chicago-style electrified blues is being usurped in the marketplace by "folk music"--everything, that is, from the Weavers to the rediscovered Mississippi John Hurt. So they importune the great Muddy Waters to trim his sails to the commerical breeze and cut a "folk" session with an acoustic guitar. Sell out? Nothing of the kind. Muddy, needless to say, came up via the Delta string-band tradition to start with, so unplugging was hardly a stretch for him. And the result was, and is, a stripped-down wonder, with the singer's bottomless, resonant baritone front and center, supported by his own expert fingerpicking, Willie Dixon's upright bass, and an extremely youthful Buddy Guy supplying electric fills. Fantastic, just fantastic, with one of Muddy's all-time greatest performances, "You Can't Lose What You Never Had."

Shazam!
What a great blues album! I just received it in the mail, and this is one of those CD's that exceeds all expectations. First, I was floored by the sound quality - hi-res with beaucoups of air and a realistic soundstage. As I continued through the disc, it became obvious that this CD belongs on a short list of the best blues albums ever made because the performances were incredible! No folk songs here - it's all acoustic blues with Willie Dixon on bass and Buddy Guy on guitar accompanying Muddy. The bonus tracks are all keepers too. This is absolutely essential blues, and music for the ages.