Morgan Neville

There could hardly be a better subject for a documentary than arguably the greatest bluesman of the last century, and this look at the life, times, and music of McKinley "Muddy Waters" Morganfield doesn't disappoint. Coproduced and codirected by Robert Gordon, the 54-minute documentary is a nice companion piece to Gordon's book of the same name. It includes some bio material, tracing Waters's evolution from a sharecropping acoustic folk singer to a sharp-dressing, Chicago-based leader of one of the greatest electric bands ever, along with reminiscences and accolades from friends, family, and fellow musicians like Keith Richards, Bonnie Raitt, and Buddy Guy. There's music, too, of course, but if the program has a drawback, it's that there are no complete performances of the deep, dirty blues--"Hoochie Coochie Man," "Mannish Boy," and so on--that earned him immortality. Then again, there are innumerable recordings, including several "best ofs," to address that problem.… (mere)