Muddy Waters - Folk Singer (1964) {1993, Remastered}

Muddy Waters' "unplugged" album was cut in September of 1963 and still sounds fresh and vital today. It was Waters simply returning to his original style on a plain acoustic guitar in a well-tuned room with Willie Dixon on string bass, Clifton James on drums, and Buddy Guy on second acoustic guitar. The nine tracks are divvied up between full rhythm section treatments with Buddy and Muddy as a duo and the final track, "Feel Like Going Home," which Waters approaches solo. What makes this version of the album a worthwhile buy is the inclusion of five bonus tracks from his next two sessions: An April 1964 session brings us Willie Dixon's "The Same Thing" and Waters' "You Can't Lose What You Never Had," while the October 1964 session features J.T. Brown on sax and clarinet on "Short Dress Woman" and "My John the Conqueror Root," as well as "Put Me in Your Lay Away," another strong side. Folk Singer offers both sides of Waters from the early '60s. This 1993 Mobile Fidelity CD was in 1993 and features two bonus tracks: "You Can't Lose What You Ain't New Had" and "The Same Thing." ~ Cub Koda, All Music