Glowing reviews continue to pour in for “Bloodstains on the Wall,” Big Bill Morganfield’s brand-new album on his own Black Shuck label. The set’s cutting-edge blend of traditional blues (as befits Muddy Waters’ son) and highly contemporary rhythms ticks all the right boxes for radio programmers as well, judging from the latest impressive round of airplay reports. It is perched at #2 on the Living Blues radio listings for the past two months, and settled in at #1 for three weeks on Roots Music Report’s electric blues charts.
Along with a handful of heartfelt revivals of revered blues classics (the ominously downbeat title track originated with Frank “Honeyboy” Patt back in 1953), ‘Bloodstains on the Wall’ features several stunning examples of Big Bill’s own considerable songwriting talent. He conceived “When You Lose Someone You Love” in the wake of his own mother’s 2015 passing, the song also serving as a universal tribute theme for Mother’s Day, ‘honoring the mother’s, grandmothers and women who we love,” says Big Bill.
Big Bill’s profile has been sky-high of late. The guitarist was featured on two recent episodes of the recent television series “Shots Fired,” performing one of the songs from his new CD, the blues/hip-hop hybrid “Hold Me Baby” (produced by Da Honorable C-Note), as well an arrangement of “Gonna Buy Me A Shotgun” that found Morganfield deftly accompanying himself on his late father’s guitar.
It’s not easy following in the outsized footsteps of a revered Chicago blues legend, but Big Bill Morganfield is doing his very best to honor the cherished memory of Muddy Waters while at the same time carve out his own distinctive niche within the changing blues world. His mastery of the idiom is all the more remarkable considering he didn’t learn the music from his dad first-hand. He got a surprisingly late start on his musical exploits, waiting until after he’d earned two college degrees and had embarked on a teaching career.
Big Bill will headline a brand new Muddy Waters West Coast Festival on June 17 in The Vision Parking Lot (corner of 43rd & Degnan Blvd.) across from the Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles. The show will feature sprecial guests Bernie Pearl, The Other Mules, The King Brothers. The tickets are $25 general admission and $50 VIP seating and can be purchased at www. californiajazzandbluesmuseum.com.
