(Editor's note: Although the December 2 Adler Theatre "Legends of the Blues" concert was canceled, the River Cities' Reader thought readers - particularly blues enthusiasts - would appreciate this interview with Bob Margolin of the Muddy Waters Reunion Band.)"For me, ‘the crossroads' is in Boston, not Mississippi."
That's how guitarist Bob Margolin explained his luck at finding himself playing beside a true musical giant, the father of deep "old school" blues - Muddy Waters - from 1973 until 1980.
In 1973, a 24-year old Margolin went to see Muddy perform in Boston. "I knew Muddy and the band because I'd opened shows for them," Margolin said in a recent e-mail interview. "When I entered the club, Mojo [Buford, the harmonica player] came right up to me and told me Muddy had fired [guitarist] Sammy Lawhorn the night before, and to ‘wait here.' Then Muddy came out of the dressing room and asked me to come to his hotel the next day and bring a guitar. I had a good idea of what Muddy wanted to hear, and he gave me a chance, a break that changed the rest of my life."
Margolin continued about why Muddy picked him: "I was the next guitar player Muddy saw after he fired Sammy, but Muddy had seen me playing Chicago blues in bands that had opened for him. And Muddy's music was already so important in my life that I came to his show early. It was lucky timing, but I was already living my life around Muddy's music."
Margolin was scheduled to appear with a Muddy Waters Reunion Band on December 2 at the Adler Theatre, the headliner of a night of "Legends of the Blues," but the show was canceled last week.
The Muddy Waters Reunion Band features most of the people that I remember seeing with Muddy in 1978 in North Carolina: pianist Pinetop Perkins (93 and going strong), Calvin "Fuzz" Jones on bass, and Willie "Big Eyes" Smith on drums. On harmonica is George "Mojo" Buford - who blew harp on the original Muddy recording of "I Got My Mojo Workin'" and who replaced Jerry Portnoy in the configuration of the band I saw. Muddy died in 1983, but the reunion band is meant "both to honor Muddy and to bring [to audiences] some of his musical spirit, which resides in players who worked with him," noted Margolin. "Muddy was one of those very few who had true ‘charisma.' He affected people in a spiritual way, both with his music and personally."
Every day, usually more than once a day, Margolin told me, someone asks him: "What did Muddy teach you?" "The most important and basic lesson is to give everything I have to the music every time I play," he said.
Once
in the Muddy Waters band, Margolin became a disciple. While most
musicians nowadays learn from listening to records, Margolin pointed
out that "Muddy put me on his right side on the bandstand so I
could watch him play guitar. I sure appreciated that opportunity
while it was happening, and tried to use it to learn to give Muddy
what he wanted on the bandstand, and for myself.
Though Muddy - age 58 in 1973 - constantly warned him that he was "too old to teach" anyone, Margolin said, "I would invite myself back to his hotel room after the shows and try to get him to explain what I could do to avoid the dirty looks he sometimes gave on the bandstand. He could have given up on me and sent me on my way, but he knew how much I wanted to get it right, and I guess he believed that I could. He told me that trying to play his music would ‘hurt like being in love.'"
One time, Margolin related, "when I was staying at his house, I baited Muddy into giving me a guitar lesson. In his living room, while he relaxed in the kitchen, I started to play ‘Can't Be Satisfied,' which was my favorite song long before I knew I'd ever even meet Muddy. Immediately I heard a huge ‘Wrong!' from the kitchen." Muddy came into the living room to give Margolin instruction on how to play the guitar part to his song. "He wouldn 't pick up the guitar and show it to me, but he sang the corrections at me. As well as I thought I knew the song, there were subtle nuances I was missing that were critical to Muddy and only he could point out. When I play it now, if I don't hit every lick exactly as he sang it to me, I'm ‘Wrong!' again."
At that time, Muddy's band toured the world and jammed with many great blues and rock musicians, but to Margolin, "The biggest thrill was playing Muddy's blues with him. He brought me with him to special shows and recordings, too, when sometimes he didn't use his whole band, to give him a familiar sound when he worked with other musicians: In 1975, we recorded the Grammy Award-winning Muddy Waters Woodstock Album, his last with Chess Records, featuring Paul Butterfield, and Levon Helm and Garth Hudson from The Band."
Margolin was also there in 1976 to perform with Muddy at The Band's The Last Waltz concert, which was filmed by Martin Scorsese. "As it happened," Margolin said, "only one camera was operating during our performance, zooming in or out, and since I was standing right next to Muddy, I was in every shot while he sang a powerful ‘Mannish Boy.'"
Since 1980 Margolin has gone on to lead his own bands; play with a who's who of blues, rockabilly, funk, and rock musicians; write his own songs; make records on various labels; lead numerous all-star bands at the Handy Awards (now Blues Music Awards) in Memphis; and tour with various configurations of musicians.
Recently he's been producing and consulting on reissues of Muddy Waters' recordings on the Blue Sky Label for Sony/Legacy. "I played guitar on these recordings," noted Margolin, "and it's an honor to make them sound as good as we can, present unreleased recordings for the first time, and write liner notes that reveal the story of the recordings from the inside." The project has led to Blues Music Awards for Best Historical Recordings in 2004 and 2005. And in 2005 Margolin received a Blues Music Award for Best Guitarist.
"Muddy used to say that there were two kinds of players: those who are born talented, and those you can ‘build with a hammer and nails.' I'm sure Muddy was the first kind," Margolin said, "and though I may have a little talent and a lot of desire, I'm the second kind. I am indebted to the carpenter."
You can find out more about what Muddy Waters was like, including lots of personal stories, at Margolin's website: (http://www.bobmargolin.com).
