LOS ANGELES – Jampol Artist Management, Inc. (JAM, Inc.) is pleased to announce that it has completed a worldwide agreement to manage the estate of McKinley Morganfield, P/K/A Muddy Waters. A true American icon and master of the blues, Muddy’s influence on the development of rock music cannot be overstated.
Muddy Waters pioneered the powerful electric conjuring of the blues that would galvanize the most influential rock artists of the ensuing decades. On cuts like “Mannish Boy,” “(I’m Your) Hoochie Coochie Man,” “Got My Mojo Workin’,” “I’m Ready” and “I Just Want to Make Love to You,” he limned a darkly charismatic, quasi-mystical, sexually masterful persona that was essentially a blueprint for the skinny white boys who invented the “rock star” a generation later.
Indeed, the Rolling Stones took their name from one of his best-known songs; Led Zeppelin imbibed his sound and took the lyrics for “Whole Lotta Love” from his version of Willie Dixon’s “You Need Love”; and Jim Morrison found in Muddy’s “Mojo” a spell to cement Jim’s rock-shaman status.
“I am so excited that our Estate is partnering with JAM Inc.,” said Joseph Morganfield, the son of
Muddy Waters. “I appreciate all the love my father’s fans are showing the family. I am so happy that after all these years my dad’s music still has such an impact. My father always told us to ‘Keep the Blues Alive’ and that is what our family along with countless other families and blues fans are doing. I know my father would be proud.”
“Our critical mission at JAM is to preserve, promote and extend artists’ legacies over the long term,” said Jeffrey Jampol, founder and President of JAM. “We created and founded the pop culture legacy management business over 15 years ago. Authenticity, credibility and pure respect for art are the principles that guide us. We want to work with folks who are committed for the long haul, who won’t compromise credibility, and with whom we can help carry this art and these messages forward for new generations. JAM is dedicated to helping bring a level of experience, expertise, respect and authenticity which great art so richly deserves – and has often failed to garner.”
“We are thrilled to welcome Jeff Jampol and Jam, Inc. to the Muddy Waters team,” said John Branca, Managing Music Partner, Ziffren Brittenham, LLP. “Jeff has consistently demonstrated the ability to skillfully manage top estate brands. We at the law firm are proud to represent the Estate of Muddy Waters. Muddy is quite simply the greatest blues artist of all time.”
Muddy’s influence changed the face of the blues and shaped the genre, which would become known as Rock and Roll. In addition to introducing many of the blues artists at the time to Chess records, Little Walter, Jimmy Rogers, Elgin Evans, Howlin’ Wolf, Willie Dixon and Otis Spann to name a few, he also helped sow the seeds for what would become the British Invasion of the 1960s.
The mark of his pioneering electric blues is everywhere, from the blues-besotted work of rock greats like The Beatles, Stones, Clapton, The Doors, Led Zeppelin and AC/DC to the more recent revivalism of The Black Keys, Alabama Shakes and Hozier. But his original recordings are as spellbinding as anything they influenced, and will likely continue to be a touchstone for plenty of generations to come.
When Muddy died in 1983 the entire music industry mourned. Muddy will be remembered as one of the founding fathers of the genre of music called the blues, one of the greatest guitarists of his generation and an icon in history who helped to shape and define American culture through his music.
His music has lent grit to countless films, he was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987; a Lifetime Achievement Grammy® was posthumously bestowed in 1992. In 1994 the U.S. Postal Service put soulful-eyed face on a 29-cent stamp. Various Muddy anthologies have been honored by the Blues Foundation, including the 1994 set of reissued Plantation Recordings and 2006’s Hoochie Coochie Man: Complete Chess Recordings, Volume 2, 1952–1958.
Muddy Waters wasn’t just a blues legend; he is an American icon. His time in history was before synthesizers and digital compositions, when music was raw. His music was the place a black sharecropper from the Mississippi could empty all of his pain, talent and intellect and make sure the world remembered his name.
