Though the banjo was probably the original blues instrument, the guitar had largely replaced the banjo by the turn of the 20th century, probably because the banjo had become associated with the racist minstrel shows. The harmonica also became very popular because it was a melody instrument that could be played along with guitar by the same person.
The slide guitar technique, using a glass bottle or curved metal piece (typically attached to the pinky finger) to slide up and down the high strings while the fingers plucked out the rhythm on the low strings, became the instrumental foundation of the Delta blues sound, and combined with rough, almost shouted vocals became blues at its most elemental.
This is the tradition in which Waters grew up. He was born McKinley Morganfield (1915) into a family of Mississippi Delta sharecroppers and learned his craft emulating masters like Son House and Robert Johnson. He earned his nickname playing near a muddy creek as a child. Waters' first recordings were made in Mississippi for Alan Lomax and the Library of Congress in the early-'40s, and he first went to Chicago in the mid-'40s backing up Sonny Boy Williamson. Waters changed to electric guitar in '44: one of the most important instrument switches in popular music history.
The Real Folk Blues/More Folk Blues consists of recordings Waters made for the Chess brothers between 1947 and 1956 (with two from '64 tossed in), first for Aristocrat label, then for the Chess label. Besides hearing the evolution of Waters' music from pure Delta style to the early rockin' Chicago band sound with the addition of second guitar, drums, bass, and the great Little Walter on harmonica, here are also the first recordings of such blues classics as "Honey Bee" and "Rollin’ and Tumblin'." The collection is also a testament to Waters' great slashing, shivering slide guitar style and ample charisma.
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