Bluestone's Track of the Day: My Home is in the Delta

McKinley Morganfield was born in 1915 in Rolling Fork Mississippi where he lived on Stovall Plantation, down in the Delta where the blues began. Morganfield's juke house was a hot spot for black farmers and white plantation owners alike; his fine moonshine may have had something to do with it, but nonetheless, he began to come across some success in his mid 20's (the early 1930s). Morganfield was first recorded by Alan Lomax. Lomax came through his town and offered $10 per song for recordings on aluminum discs. Morganfield took the offer; he played a steel guitar and used a true bottleneck as a slide. A broken bottle and cold, hard steel; this was the Delta. This was home to all of the early, great bluesmen, but the blues wouldn't stay there forever. Producers like Lomax brought the finest talent from the South up to Chicago for proper recordings. Charley Patton, Son House, and countless others were part of this movement, but in my opinion, none as influential as Morganfield. Morganfield first moved to Chicago in 1940, where he would eventually electrify and evolve the Delta blues without losing its raw quality. When Morganfield initially began recording in Chicago he played a reserved style, with no passion, and with no bottleneck. Chicago was intimidating. Morganfield said "I got off that train and it looked like this was the fastest place in the world." He quickly realized, however, that although he had left his home in the Delta, he could not leave his music; he had to stay true to it, which is exactly what he did. In 1947, he signed with Chess Records (called Aristocrat at the time) and played the way he always had. As the electric guitar evolved, so did Morganfield. He began recording music that would have a great influence on rock and roll, as well as blues, but he never forgot where he came from. Most of you probably know Morganfield better as Muddy Waters, christened by his grandmother for his messy play, and here is his My Home is in the Delta:
Listen to My Home Is In The Delta
Fun fact about Muddy: His MOJO that he so often speaks about comes from the Louisiana Mojo Hand. A Mojo Hand was a little red flannel bag pierced with needles that was used to curse your opponents in gambling. It could be purchased from a "doctor", and Muddy says he really believed in them.

This song has been played by many artists including Mississippi Fred McDowell. None play it better than Muddy, but many play it well. Here is another artist from YouTube: Scott Ainslie. Neither his playing nor his voice are perfect, but he plays with passion and, for a white guy, he is as close to capturing the Delta as you can find.