''Moanin' in the Moonlight'' is a compilation album and the first album by American

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 ...

artist

Howlin' Wolf Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Over a four-decade care ...

, released by

Chess Records Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and roll ...

in 1959. It contains songs previously issued as singles, including one of his best-known, "

Smokestack Lightning "Smokestack Lightning" (also "Smoke Stack Lightning" or "Smokestack Lightnin'") is a blues song recorded by Howlin' Wolf in 1956. It became one of his most popular and influential songs. It is based on earlier blues songs, and numerous artists l ...

". ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' ranked it number 477 on its 2020 list of "

the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and indust ...

Recording and production

The two earliest songs on ''Moanin' in the Moonlight'' were "

Moanin' at Midnight "Moanin' at Midnight" is a blues song written and recorded by Howlin' Wolf in 1951. The recording was released on Chess Records as his debut single. It charted on '' Billboards R&B chart, but the B-side, "How Many More Years," became the po ...

" and "

How Many More Years "How Many More Years" is a blues song written and originally recorded by Howlin' Wolf in 1951. Recorded at the Memphis Recording Service – which later became the Sun Studio – it was released by Chess Records and reached No. 4 on the '' Bill ...

". These two songs and 'All Night Boogie', were recorded in Memphis, the first two at

Sam Phillips Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, ...

Memphis Recording Service Sun Studio is a recording studio opened by rock-and-roll pioneer Sam Phillips at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 3, 1950. It was originally called Memphis Recording Service, sharing the same building with the Sun Records label ...

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

in July 1951, and, 'All Night Boogie', the last track on side one, in Memphis in 1953. These songs were sold to the Chess brothers,

Leonard Leonard or ''Leo'' is a common English language, English masculine given name and a surname. The given name and surname originate from the Old High German ''Leonhard'' containing the prefix ''levon'' ("lion") from the Greek wikiwikiweb:Λέων, � ...

and

Phil Phil may refer to: * Phil (given name), a shortened version of masculine and feminine names * Phill, a given name also spelled "Phil" * Phil, Kentucky, United States * ''Phil'' (film), a 2019 film * -phil-, a lexical fragment, used as a root te ...

, who released them on two singles (''Chess 1479'' and ''Chess 1557''), the first two titles being released on August 15, 1951. The rest of the songs on the album were recorded in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

and were produced by either the Chess brothers and/or

Willie Dixon William James Dixon (July 1, 1915January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was proficient in playing both the upright bass and the guitar, and sang with a distinctive voice, but he ...

Artwork, packaging, and promotion

The original version of ''Moanin' in the Moonlight'' featured cover artwork by Don S. Bronstein and

sleeve notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are descen ...

by ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' editor

Paul Ackerman Paul Ackerman (February 18, 1908 – December 31, 1977) was an influential music journalist. Ackerman was born in New York, New York. From 1943 to 1973 he was the music editor of ''Billboard'' magazine. He wrote the liner notes to Harry Belafonte ...

. The label pressings from the original series have different colors on it because several pressing plants were used. The album was featured on an advertisement in ''Billboard'' magazine on August 10, 1959, which misprinted the album's title as ''Howlin' at Midnite''.

Accolades

In 1987, ''Moanin' in the Moonlight'' was given a W.C. Handy Award in the "Vintage/Reissue Album (US)" category. ''

'' magazine ranked the album number 477 on its 2020 list of

. Robert Palmer has cited "How Many More Years" (recorded May 1951) as the first record to feature a distorted

power chord A power chord (also fifth chord) is a colloquial name for a chord in guitar music, especially electric guitar, that consists of the root note and the fifth, as well as possibly octaves of those notes. Power chords are commonly played on am ...

, played by Willie Johnson on the

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

Track listing

All songs written by

Chester Burnett Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Over a four-decade care ...

, except when noted. (Although the original 1959 LP, and the UK Chess 1965 issue credited all compositions to 'C. Burnett' owlin' Wolf) ;Side one # "

" – 2:58 # "

" – 2:42 # " Smokestack Lightnin'" – 3:07 # "Baby How Long" – 2:56 # "No Place to Go" – 2:59 # "All Night Boogie" – 2:12 ;Side two # "

Evil Evil, in a general sense, is defined as the opposite or absence of good. It can be an extremely broad concept, although in everyday usage it is often more narrowly used to talk about profound wickedness and against common good. It is general ...

" – 2:55 (

) # "I'm Leavin' You" – 3:01 # "Moanin' for My Baby" – 2:47 # "I Asked for Water (She Gave Me Gasoline)" – 2:53 # "

Forty-Four "Forty-Four" or "44 Blues" is a blues standard whose origins have been traced back to early 1920s Louisiana. However, it was Roosevelt Sykes, who provided the lyrics and first recorded it in 1929, that helped popularize the song. "Forty-Four," t ...

" – 2:51 (

Roosevelt Sykes Roosevelt Sykes (January 31, 1906July 17, 1983) was an American blues musician, also known as "the Honeydripper". Career Sykes was born the son of a musician in Elmar, Arkansas. "Just a little old sawmill town", Sykes said of his birthplace. The ...

, credited to Burnett) # "Somebody in My Home" – 2:27

Personnel

The following people contributed to ''Moanin' in the Moonlight'': *

vocals, harmonica * Willie Johnsonguitar * Willie Steeledrums *

Ike Turner Izear Luster "Ike" Turner Jr. (November 5, 1931 – December 12, 2007) was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, record producer, and talent scout. An early pioneer of 1950s rock and roll, he is best known for his work in the 1960s and 1 ...

piano on "Moanin' at Midnight" and "How Many More Years" *

Hubert Sumlin Hubert Charles Sumlin (November 16, 1931 – December 4, 2011) was a Chicago blues guitarist and singer, best known for his "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic suspensions" as a member of Howlin ...

– guitar * Hosea Lee Kennard – piano *

–

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

, producer * Earl Phillips – drums *

Jody Williams Jody Williams (born October 9, 1950) is an American political activist known for her work in banning anti-personnel landmines, her defense of human rights (especially those of women), and her efforts to promote new understandings of security i ...

– guitar *

Otis Spann Otis Spann (March 21, 1924 or 1930April 24, 1970) was an American blues musician, whom many consider to be the leading postwar Chicago blues pianist. Early life Sources differ over Spann's early years. Some state that he was born in Jackson, Miss ...

– piano * Lee Cooper – guitar on "No Place to Go" *

Fred Below Frederick Below, Jr. (September 6, 1926 – August 13, 1988) was an American blues drummer, best known for his work with Little Walter and Chess Records in the 1950s. According to Tony Russell, Below was a creator of much of the rhythmic stru ...

– drums on "All Night Boogie" * S. P. Leary – drums on "I'm leaving You" * Adolph "Billy" Dockins –

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

on "Moanin' for My Baby" * Otis "Smokey" Smothers – guitar on "I Asked for Water (She Gave Me Gasoline)" *

– producer on "Moanin' at Midnight" and "How Many More Years" *

Leonard Chess Lejzor Szmuel Czyż (March 12, 1917 – October 16, 1969), best known as Leonard Sam Chess, was a Polish-American record company executive and the co-founder of Chess Records. He was influential in the development of electric blues, Chicago blu ...

– producer *

Phil Chess Philip Chess (born Fiszel Czyż; March 27, 1921 – October 18, 2016) was a Polish-born American record producer and company executive, the co-founder with his brother of Chess Records. Early life Chess was born to a Polish-Jewish family in the ...

– producer

References

{{Authority control 1959 compilation albums Chess Records compilation albums Howlin' Wolf albums Albums produced by Leonard Chess Albums produced by Phil Chess Albums produced by Willie Dixon Albums produced by Sam Phillips Albums recorded at Sun Studio