Music
Muddy Waters 100
Centennial tribute to a blues legend and rock & roll godfather
Blues vet John Primer played in Muddy Waters’ band, and he sounds like it — he has the late giant’s slashing guitar tone and slurry vocal phrasing nailed. This handsome CD-book set of Muddy covers is his show. But the guests shine: Derek Trucks adds slither to a bad-ass triple-guitar take on “Still a Fool”; the late Johnny Winter (another veteran Muddy collaborator) does the same on “I’m Ready.” Some tracks, like “Got My Mojo Working” (a vocal duet with Shemekia Copeland), smolder without catching fire. Others, like a drum-looped “Mannish Boy,” spark by breaking tradition. All testify to the eternal flame of a master — the original rollin’ stone.