Every artist usually has that one act who managed to set their world on fire in the early days. It’s one thing to like what a band is playing, but the minute that one musician came along, it was never going to be the same way once they took their headphones off. Even though Eric Clapton could easily just put ‘the blues’ as his favourite artist, he considered Muddy Waters was among the biggest influences when he started out.
Compared to the other rock guitarists before and after him, though, Clapton never strayed too far away from the blues. Sure, there would be albums like Slowhand that saw him developing as a songwriter, but the crux of his sound always came from him trying to turn himself into people like BB King and Robert Johnson for the modern age.
While Johnson and King were both able to speak with their instruments, no one spoke with greater authority than Waters. Although rock and roll was just around the corner, Waters was reminding everyone why the blues was still considered one of the dirtiest genres in the world, especially when he launched into jams like ‘Hoochie Coochie Man’.
Even when he didn’t have an electric guitar in his hand, Waters could be 90% better than most electric guitarists could hope to be. For anyone trying to expand their craft beyond their traditional distortion pedals, an album like Folk Singer is one of the best examples of a guitarist working outside their comfort zone and breaking new ground that no one thought was possible.
