Muddy Waters’ legendary first recordings, cut at his house in Mississippi on portable equipment by a Library of Congress/Fisk University recording unit led by Alan Lomax and John W. Work III, were first collected on the revelatory 1966 LP Down on Stovall’s Plantation on Pete Welding’s Testament label and later released in an expanded set by MCA on the Chess CD The Complete Plantation Recordings. Prior to the LP and CD, the Library of Congress had only released two of the songs on a 10-inch 78 and on the album compilation Afro American Blues and Game Songs, all under Muddy’s real name, McKinley Morganfield. The Testament LP was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1988, and the Chess CD followed in 2001.

Muddy was a tractor driver and local blues performer who ran a juke joint and sold bootleg liquor from his house in 1941-42 when he cut these sides, and the song selection here shows how wide his musical spectrum was at the time. Some of the tracks were in styles he would never record again, including string band recordings with fiddler Henry ‘Son’ Sims and some gospel material, while I Be’s Troubled and Country Blues were seminal versions of tunes he would record commercially in Chicago several years later. (Muddy left Stovall for Chicago in 1943.) The influence of Son House and Robert Johnson is evident in the deep Delta blues numbers, and Take a Walk With Me is a rendition of a then-current recording by Johnson’s so-called stepson, Robert Lockwood. The Chess/MCA CD adds a few alternate and unissued tracks plus several fascinating interview segments.

Muddy Waters, vocal and guitar, solo, or with the Son Sims Four or with Charles Berry, guitar. Vocals by Son Sims, Percy Thomas, and Louis Ford on some tracks. Recorded c. August 28-31, 1941; possibly July 20-24, 1942; and July 24, 1942; Stovall, Mississippi. (Some tracks possibly recorded in Clarksdale or Sherard, Mississippi, according to Alan Lomax or Library of Congress.)

Tracks released on Testament T-2210, Down on Stovall’s Plantation in 1966: I Be’s Troubled/Rambling Kid Blues/You Got to Take Sick and Die Some of These Days/Burr Clover Blues/Pearlie Mae Blues/Country Blues, No. 1/Why Don’t You Live So God Can Use You?/Rosalie/Country Blues, No. 2/Take a Walk With Me/Joe Turner/ You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Dead and Gone/I Be Bound to Write to You.

Tracks released on MCA Chess CHD-9344, on June 8, 1993:

1. Country Blues (Number One) 3:33
2. Interview #1 3:51
3. I Be’s Troubled 3:05
4. Interview #2 1:50
5. Burr Clover Farm Blues 2:54
6. Interview #3 1:10
7. Ramblin’ Kid Blues 1:08
8. Ramblin’ Kid Blues 3:16
9. Rosalie 3:02
10. Joe Turner 2:45
11. Pearlie May Blues 3:22
12. Take A Walk With Me 3:04
13. Burr Clover Blues 3:13
14. Interview #4 0:34
15. I Be Bound To Write To You 3:25
16. I Be Bound To Write To You 2:51
17. You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone (Number One) 3:20
18. You Got To Take Sick And Die Some Of These Days 2:07
19. Why Don’t You Live So God Can Use You 2:07
20. Country Blues (Number Two) 3:34
21. You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone (Number Two) 3:40
22. 32-20 Blues 3:36