Muddy Waters - Folk Singer

Now at 33 1/3 RPM!
Mastered By Bernie Grundman From Original 1964 Chess Analog Masters!
180g Vinyl Pressed at Quality Record Pressings!

Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time - Rated 282/500!

There are a handful of landmark albums in any genre. In the blues, one of them is Muddy Waters' Folk Singer. It's been an audiophile staple for years. Originally released in 1964, Folk Singer was the only acoustic album Waters ever recorded, thus becoming the first and perhaps best blues concept album ever. Muddy of course started out playing acoustic blues in the Delta, and he's clearly very comfortable in this return to his roots, which was designed to appeal to the mid-1960s surge of interest in folk music.

This recording has enormous presence with ample room for Muddy's booming voice to resonate.

Folk Singer represents a departure from the electric 'urban' blues sound that Muddy Waters pioneered. This all-acoustic collection of recordings illustrates his deep-rooted rural blues influences, reminiscent of the sides he made nearly twenty-five years prior in Mississippi. This release features McKinley Morganfield (Muddy Waters) on vocals and guitar, supported by a very young Buddy Guy on guitar, blues legend Willie Dixon on upright bass and Clifton James on occasional drums.

"Worried that the folk-music fad was luring listeners away from the blues, Chess Records directed Waters to record with acoustic instruments. These sessions — by Waters, Willie Dixon and a young Buddy Guy — went astonishingly well, and this pioneering "unplugged" set is beloved by blues and folk fans alike." - www.rollingstone.com

"The Quality Record Pressing is drop-dead quiet-as silent as the best Japanese pressings from the late 1970s-and the amount of inner detail released is simply astonishing...the sound is sweet, liquid and free of harshness and edge. The dynamics are mind-boggling. When Muddy takes it up ten notches to emphasize a point it's positively explosive in a way the 33 1/3 version only suggests." Music = 9/10, Sound = 10/10! — Michael Fremer, musicangle.com.

"How about a 45 RPM set from Analogue Productions' recently launched Quality Record Pressings Facility, mastered by Bernie Grundman, in a beautiful gatefold jacket with extra sessions shots? It's been ages since I've heard LP surfaces this quiet — as in dead quiet. The expense and effort that Chad Kassem and company put into this venture are immediately obvious. ... Making music together bring this recording to life as never before. It's by far the best sounding and most engaging version yet... analog lovers will be in hog heaven." — Wayne Garcia, The Absolute Sound, May/June, Issue 223

Features:
• 33 1/3 rpm 180g Vinyl
• Double LP
• Mastered by Bernie Grundman
• Mastered from Original 1964 Chess Analog Masters
• Pressed at Quality Record Pressings
• New Gatefold jacket with extra photos
• Limited edition

Musicians:
Muddy Waters, vocals, guitar
Buddy Guy, guitar
Willie Dixon, bass
Clifton James, drums

Selections:
Side 1:
1. My Home Is in the Delta
2. Long Distance
3. My Captain
4. Good Morning School Girl
5. You Gonna Need My Help

Side 2:
6. Cold Weather Blues
7. Big Leg Woman
8. Country Boy
9. Feel Like Going Home

Recorded September 1963 at Ter Mar Recording Studios.