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For those of you with children at Tregaron Secondary School, you may like to know that we've arranged for Bill to visit the school on Friday afternoon to give a performance and talk of and about the blues to the children there. Bill was a teacher for many years back in the States, so it should be a very entertaining and informative afternoon.
Preview
It is the dream of many fathers for their sons to follow in their footsteps. McKinley Morganfield, better known as Muddy Waters, always lamented the fact that younger black people did not seem interested in his music. If he were alive today, he would be very proud of his son Big Bill Morganfield. Possessing more than just his musical pedigree, Bill has the voice, talent, song writing skills and stage presence to become a major talent in his own right.
An avalanche of praise followed the release of Bill's recording debut, 1999's Rising Son. From Billboard to People to National Public Radio's "Weekend Edition", critics across the land were quick to extol the emergence of this impressive new talent. Guitar Player magazine summed it up by declaring, "Big Bill is a singer/songwriter who surely would have made Muddy smile." The New York Post touted Rising Son by saying, "This is one of the most impressive debuts to break in a number years." And the Boston Herald announced, "Morganfield brings plenty of originality to the party - in the high quality of his original tunes, his blunt yet effective guitar style and the way he casually rises to the first-rank level of his accompaniment." Perhaps the most gratifying acknowledgment of all came with Bill winning the year 2000, W.C. Handy Award for "Best New Blues Artist", the equivalent of a Grammy Award in the blues world.
Bill returned to Chicago recently to make his sophomore recording with special guest Taj Mahal and producer Dick Shurman. Ramblin' Mind features Bill's distinctive, window rattling baritone voice and scintillating slide guitar on a wide variety of material, including ten originals. "Working with Bill has been a dream. He's a great combination of talent, dedication & heredity," says Shurman. "On this session we went way beyond every expectation." One highlight of the recording experience was having Big Bill team up with Taj Mahal and harmonica ace Billy Branch on two tracks: an original song that Taj wrote exclusively for the project entitled "Strong Man Holler" and a song first recorded by Bill's father, "You're Gonna Miss Me". Both men trade impressive vocal and guitar licks on these cuts. Bill stated, "Taj has a lot of styles down. He's able to jump into the Delta mode with ease, which happens to be my favorite type of blues. "Strong Man Holler" is indeed a very magical song; it grabs your mind and keeps it right there."
Born in Chicago in 1956, Bill Morganfield was raised by his grandmother in southern Florida and now resides in the Atlanta area. His father's legacy lives on in the tools of his art. Big Bill has both Muddy's touring amp and the guitars on which he composed some of his earliest works. More importantly, Bill carries Muddy's spirit and love for the blues, and says he feels a spiritual bond with his father when he's on stage.
"My dad had a reputation for being a very dignified person, a very proud man. He gave us all a certain inner strength to go out and do whatever we needed to do." Musically, his father's influence came somewhat later. "Whenever I got the chance to hear him, it struck me strongly". But Bill didn't start off with the idea of being a professional musician until years later. It wasn't until after his father's death in 1983 that Bill decided to explore his musical heritage. "Daddy always wished that one of his kids would follow him and play music," says Bill. "A few years after he died, I bought myself a guitar and started playing a bit. In my mind, I said I want to do a tribute to him. But it was years before I got a chance to do anything. It all started from there. I kind of locked myself away for about six years and taught myself."
He became stagestruck after performing with Lonnie Mack on Atlanta's Center Stage before a crowd of a thousand people. "I sang and played and the people went crazy. I was dancing around like a jumping bean. I realized I've got a love for this. I got such a feeling."
He first formed a band that played contemporary blues but that lasted only three months. He was unhappy with the sound of the music "so I dedicated myself to playing at a higher level." He retreated to his room to devote his energy to perfecting his guitar playing and sharpening his raw but undeniable talent. In the meantime, he used his bachelor's degrees in English from Tuskegee University and Communications from Auburn University to make a living as a teacher while he learned to play traditional blues. He spent countless hours methodically studying, ripping apart, and reconstructing songs. Immersing himself in this work, Bill learned the art of of song writing.
Big Bill's debut recording, Rising Son was cut in Chicago where his father recorded so many classic sides. The album was produced by Muddy's long time guitarist, and a close friend of Bill's, Bob Margolin, who also played on the record. Three other former members of the Muddy Waters Blues Band also joined Bill in the studio: Willie "Big Eyes" Smith on drums, Paul Oscher on harmonica and Pinetop Perkins on piano. The combo was completed with the legendary Chicago blues master and former Sunnyland Slim band member Robert Stroger on bass. Bill said of the sessions, "It was so inspiring playing with these musicians. Working with them in the studio was a special experience. They really brought out the best in me; those sessions left me with memories I'll never forget."
Now, Ramblin' Mind fulfills Rising Son's promise of greatness and documents the maturation of a major blues star. Big Bill's story is simply a great one, and as the son of one of the most influential musicians of the 20th Century, Bill has proven himself up to the challenge of meeting many of the burdensome expectations placed upon him. Big Bill's continuing success in presenting a new Morganfield's music into the next century would certainly make his father proud.
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