''King Bee'' is the fourteenth and final studio album by

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

singer and guitarist

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago b ...

. Released in 1981, it is third in a series of records done for the label

Blue Sky Records Blue Sky Records was a custom record label created by Steve Paul for Columbia Records, featuring acts managed by Steve Paul, primarily blues-oriented performers Johnny Winter, Edgar Winter, Rick Derringer, Dan Hartman, David Johansen, and Muddy ...

under producer/guitarist

Johnny Winter John Dawson Winter III (February 23, 1944 – July 16, 2014) was an American singer and guitarist. Winter was known for his high-energy blues rock albums and live performances in the late 1960s and 1970s. He also produced three Grammy Award-win ...

. Recorded in three days (and in the wake of Muddy's failing health) some of the band members, namely Winter and guitarist

Bob Margolin Bob Margolin (born May 9, 1949) is an American electric blues guitarist. His nickname is Steady Rollin'. Biography Margolin started playing guitar in 1964, and his first appearance on record was with Boston psychedelic band The Freeborne, and the ...

, were not happy with the result. As his health deteriorated, Muddy was forced to cancel an increasing number of shows. He died of a heart attack on April 30, 1983. The album was recorded in May 1980. A salary dispute between the band and Muddy Waters's manager, Scott Cameron, halted the session. Eventually the album was completed by using a couple of outtakes from 1977's ''

Hard Again ''Hard Again'' is a studio album by American blues singer Muddy Waters. Released on January 10, 1977, it was the first of his albums produced by Johnny Winter. ''Hard Again'' was Waters's first album on Blue Sky Records after leaving Chess Record ...

''. David Michael Kennedy was the photographer for the ''King Bee'', providing photos for the front cover, back cover, and the inside album sleeve. The photo for the inside album sleeve was a picture of Muddy and his large family sitting in the living room of his home in

Westmont, Illinois Westmont is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. Westmont is a community of 5.03 square miles in area with a 2010 population of 24,685. It is located approximately west of the Chicago Loop in the southeastern portion of DuPage Co ...

Critical reception

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' wrote: "Over the years, Waters' voice has become richer, but it is the arrangements of the blues that have suffered. With the exception of a few tunes, the music has lost its rhythmic tension." ''

The Rolling Stone Album Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...

'' deemed ''King Bee'' "a fitting final testament."

Track listing

All songs written by

McKinley Morganfield McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago ...

, unless noted otherwise. # "I'm A King Bee" ( James Moore) – 3:49 # "Too Young to Know" – 4:28 # "Mean Old Frisco Blues" (

Arthur Crudup Arthur William "Big Boy" Crudup (August 24, 1905 – March 28, 1974) was an American Delta blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known, outside blues circles, for his songs "That's All Right" (1946), "My Baby Left Me" and "So Gla ...

) – 3:44 # "Forever Lonely" – 4:33 # "I Feel Like Going Home" – 3:42 # "Champagne & Reefer" – 4:36 # "Sad Sad Day" – 5:22 # "(My Eyes) Keep Me in Trouble" (Hap Walker) – 3:16 # "Deep Down in Florida #2" (

James Burke Oden James Burke "St. Louis Jimmy" Oden (June 26, 1903 – December 30, 1977) was an American blues singer and songwriter. Biography Oden was born in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. His parents were Henry Oden, a dancer, and Leana West ...

) – 4:06 # "No Escape from the Blues" (Charles Williams) – 2:04

Personnel

*Muddy Waters –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

– guitar, producer *

– guitar *Calvin Jones – bass *Charles Calmese – bass on "Deep Down in Florida" and "Clouds in My Heart" *

Pinetop Perkins Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins (July 7, 1913 – March 21, 2011) was an American blues pianist. He played with some of the most influential blues and rock-and-roll performers of his time and received numerous honors, including a Grammy Life ...

–

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

Jerry Portnoy Jerry Portnoy (born November 25, 1943 in Evanston, Illinois, United States) is an American harmonica blues musician, who has toured with Muddy Waters and Eric Clapton. Biography Portnoy grew up in Chicago. He first heard the blues played out ...

– harmonica *

James Cotton James Henry Cotton (July 1, 1935 – March 16, 2017) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who performed and recorded with many fellow blues artists and with his own band. He also played drums early in his career. ...

– harmonica on "Deep Down in Florida" and "Clouds in My Heart" *

Willie "Big Eyes" Smith Willie Lee "Big Eyes" Smith (January 19, 1936 – September 16, 2011) was an American electric blues vocalist, harmonica player, and drummer. He was best known for several stints with the Muddy Waters band beginning in the early 1960s. Biogra ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

References

{{Authority control Muddy Waters albums 1981 albums Albums produced by Johnny Winter Blue Sky Records albums