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Big Bill Morganfield

"Rising Son"

Blind Pig BPCD-5053

If the name "Morganfield" sounds familiar, it should; Big Bill Morganfield is the son of Mckinley Morganfield aka Muddy Waters, a blues legend by anyone's standards. Mighty big shoes to fill, and in his debut effort the younger Morganfield enlists the talents of many of the musicians who backed his father. "Steady Rollin'" Bob Margolin not only lends guitar but also produced the album. Pinetop Perkins, who recently paired with Margolin during Memorial Day weekend's W.c Handy Awards, is on piano; Paul Oscher blows harmonica and Willie "Big Eyes" Smith delivers on drums. Only Bob Stroger’s bass did not previously play in Muddy's band but nevertheless is regarded as one of the best around chicago today.

One might argue that such a gifted ensemble could make anyone sound great, and to some extent that is true. But " anyone" won't be compared to the hoochie coochie man and to Big Bill's credit he embraces his father's influence without trying to be the second coming. In the early going BBM starts slowly, showing some nice slide work on Left Hand Blues, one of his five original contributions. By the fourth track, Willie Dixon's The Same Thing, both front man and band are in fine form as everyone can be heard on this lazy, deep blues number. He then changes gears with a few upbeat takes like the humorous Dead Ass Broke as well as cryin Days and Sloppy Drunk both of which feature great stuff on the ivorys by Pinetop.

Not surprisingly,the best cut on the disc is a Muddy remake. Screamin' & cryin' is sweet Delta chaos from the get-go. Everyone shines on this track but it clearly belongs to Margolin's gutter slide and Oscher's harp, which is always critical to capturing Waters' sound. champagne and Reefer is either a reference to the recent SBS trip to Memphis for the Handys or what the Reagan administration might have deemed a "just say yes" song. The younger Morganfield also stands tall on the swanky, head boppin' Don't Want To See You Go – his best original – and the title track, which has an unusual placement as the closing number, but is worth the wait as he brings it way down using only his own slide and deep vocals to pay tribute to his daddy. Lyrically reminiscent of Bernard Allison’s song to his daddy, Luther.

The test for Morganfield will be how he measures up without such a stellar supporting cast, but this mannish boy shows on his solid debut that his sun–and his stock–is indeed rising.

Steve Magner