Muddy Waters was one of the blues greats in the history of guitar based music, making a legendary career that spanned several decades. This album is an important one, it is his best and most widely known album in his musical career. It’s a great listen, so let’s listen, see where we go with it.

We begin with My Home Is In The Delta which has delicious slide guitar and a great old school blues feel to the song. The voice of Muddy Waters is instantly recognisable, and it is a nice laidback blues track to listen to, ideally at home. A great and relaxing song to hear. Muddy Waters sings, “I feel like crying, but you know the tears won’t come down,” is one of many great lyrics here. Good effort.

Next is Long Distance which is another slow listen that is not dull. It’s very relaxing, in fact. Lyrically, it’s about long distance phone calls and distance in relationships in general. It is, aside from the drums in the background, pure acoustic based music here. Folk singer? Indeed. Another great tune here. A superb effort by Muddy Waters.

My Captain is next. It has a much more traditional blues music intro at the start of the song, sounding suspenseful and sparse. Muddy Waters has a whiskey soaked sounding blues voice here, which fits the sound here perfectly. Unlike much postmodern music, Muddy Waters teaches the listener that suspense and sparsity in a song is better than many layers of multitracked instruments. Brilliant. Sounds like prototype Black Sabbath in its structure in that sense.

Good Morning Little School Girl is a classic blues number about teenage romance. Ironically, it sounds a little like pedophilia here lyrically, but musically, it’s fantastic. A beautiful and well delivered array of instrumentation, a nice song to hear anyway regardless of the lyrics, it’s a great listen.

Up next is You Gonna Need My Help which is a slow, but interesting listen with very expertly played blues guitar parts here. More slide guitar and raspy blues vocals are here for your listening. It has a loose feel musically, although the band are specifically playing to a given slow tempo. Expertly delivered and refreshing listening.

Following is Cold Weather Blues which is a very subtle listening at the beginning, with bursts of volume and musical colour from Muddy Waters singing. It sounds almost akin to instrumental music with the multitude of musical sections, except that there are vocals here. It’s a beautiful listen and very much awesome to hear.

Big Leg Woman starts off with more beautiful acoustic playing, which is a very nice thing to hear. It is a refreshing listen and talks about big ladies and what they should be doing in life. Maybe this is where Kid Rock got some of his ideas from? Regardless, another perfectly good and listenable track here. Interesting, especially lyrically.

Country Boy is next. Another similarly consistent listen on this album, with tales of blues and experience with women. A great and wonderful listen, the slide guitar solo is really something superb here. No doubt the material here is very professional and well thought out. Great performance here, no doubt. A captivating and refreshing listen. The ending is brilliant.

Last here is Feel Like Going Home which is a great piece to finish off the album with. It’s a traditional blues tale set to music, with some extremely memorable phrases here. Muddy Waters sings incredibly deeply here, and gives this all he has got. Brilliant, nice way to conclude a great musical statement. The picked acoustic slide guitar is truly gorgeous.

Muddy Waters was more than just a folk singer. Here, he shows himself to be a great musician and an inspiration to many. This album is a must in your collection. If you ever want unplugged blues music to relax to, this is a really good one for you. Many editions with extra tracks have been released, so go and seek them out if you are keen.

Real blues.

9/10