Muddy Waters and the Multi-Layered Influences Associated ...

SOCIALreview|Vol.9No.2,2020InternationalSocialSciencesReview/RevistaInternacionaldeCienciasSocialeshttps://doi.org/10.37467/gka-revsocial.v9.2616©GlobalKnowledgeAcademics,authors.Allrightsreserved.

THEVOICEOFTHESOUTHERNDIASPORAMuddyWatersandtheMulti-LayeredInfluencesAssociated

withtheDiffusionofBluesCulture

JOHNBYRONSTRAIT

SamHoustonStateUniversity,U.S.A

KEYWORDS

MigrationRaceDiasporaAfrican-American identityMusic

ABSTRACT

ThispaperfocusesonthedynamicnatureoftheSouthernDiaspora,thetwentieth-century mass migration of African-Americans in the UnitedStatesfromtheruralsouthtotheurbannorthandwest.Thesignificantmigratory linksbetween theMississippiDeltaandChicago, Illinois, andtheinfluencesithadonthelargerdiasporaareemphasized.ThemusicoffamedbluesartistMuddyWaters isusedasa lens todemonstrateboththecausesandthesignificantimpactsofthisdiaspora.Byexploringthemulti-layered circuitry of change associated with the evolution anddiffusion ofDelta bluesmusic, this paper reveals the transnational andtransculturaldimensionsoftheSouthernDiaspora.

SOCIALreview,9(2),2020,pp.133-146

Well,I'mgoingawaytoleave;won'tbebacknomore.

I Can't Be Satisfied; Muddy Waters 1948(Waters1948).

Introduction

heabovewordsrepresenttheopeninglyricstoasong(ICan'tBeSatisfied)recordedforAristocrat Records in Chicago, Illinois in

1948. The soulful blues song, generallycategorized as a Chicago Blues, represents anupdated, electrified andmore urbanized versionof "IBe'sTroubled," anacoustic ruralblues tunefirst recorded seven years earlier on the StovallPlantation, near Clarksdale, Mississippi, in theheart of the Mississippi Delta. The musicaltransformation which transitioned rural DeltaBlues – symbolized by "I Be's Troubled" – intoelectrified urban blues – represented by "I Can'tBe Satisfied" – was just one of the manygeographical and cultural outcomes of the mostsignificant internalmigration inU.S.history.Thistwentieth-centurymassmigration witnessed therelocationofmillions of rural southerners to theurban north and west, ultimately changing thevery nature of the United States, and indeed theworld,innumerousways.Inacomprehensiveandthorough study focused on the multipledimensions of this mass-migration, thehistorianJamesGregoryreferredtothisphenomenaasthe"Southern Diaspora" (Gregory 2005: pp. 11). IadoptGregory'slabelinthispaperandinvoketheterm Southern Diaspora as a means todemonstrate the full geographical relevance ofthissignificantmigration(Strait2019:pp.3).The life of the composer and vocalist

responsible for both "I Be's Troubled" and "ICan't Be Satisfied," McKinley Morganfield, laterto be known worldwide as Muddy Waters,essentiallyparalleledthestoryheputtosong.HewasbornandraisedintheMississippiDeltaandwas a long-time resident laborer on the StovallPlantation, yet shortly after recording "I Be'sTroubled"hedidindeedpackasuitcaseand“goaway," leaving the plantation life of his Deltahome forever farbehind. Likemillionsofotherfellow Delta migrants who participated in theSouthern Diaspora, Waters ultimately relocatedto Chicago, Illinois, the city Muddy was later

referred to as“the biggest city in Mississippi”(Gordon 2002: pp. 67). Themusical changes hehelped facilitate upon arriving in Chicago bothrevolutionized and globalized American music,justifying his famousmoniker as the "Father ofElectric Blues." Moreover, the musicalexpressions he created, both before and afterhisrelocation, ultimately reflected andencouraged social changes that were global inscopeandtranscendedtheworldofmusic.In earlier work, I have utilized blues music

andcultureasameanstoofferageographicallyexpansive reassessment of the SouthernDiaspora, essentially situating it within a muchmore expansive global network of flows andmovements(StraitandFujimoto-Strait2017:pp.4;Strait2019:pp.11).Myaimhereistousethelensofbluesmusic,asrepresentedbythemusicof MuddyWaters, to focus directly on how themigration flow from the rural portions of thesouthern U.S. to the urban north functioned asthe essential migratory link driving this globalcircuitry of flows. In short, this paper exploresthe complex dynamics associated with theSouthernDiasporaandrevealshowthemusicofMuddy Waters is reflective of the root causes,motivations, and impacts of this significantmigratoryprocess.Thispapercontributestothemigration literature in threemainways. First, Iexplore the larger significance of this diaspora,including a focus on the racially specificimplications of both its causes as well as itsimpacts. Second, I submitMuddyWaters as themusical voice of this diaspora, thus illuminatingtheimportantrolethatmigrantsthemselvesmayhaveintermsofnarratingtheirowngeographicexperiences. Third, by focusing on thegeographical and social relevance of musicalevolutiontothisdiaspora,andbylinkingittoanextensive network of cultural movements, thispaper addresses the potential transnationalimpacts of more localized inter-regionalmigrationpatterns.The remainder of this paper is divided into

fourmain sections. The first section provides abrief background to the Southern Diaspora,summarizing how and why the causes andoutcomes of this diaspora had particularlysignificant effects on the African-Americanpopulation. A second section focuses on the

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TheVoiceoftheSouthernDiaspora

importantfunctionthatmusicalnarrationservedin terms of diffusing the implications of thisdiaspora, particularly the role playedinglobalizing its effects. The third section of thepaper utilizes the life and music of MuddyWaters to emphasize how the specific linkagesbetween the Mississippi Delta and the urbannorth,particularlyChicago,Illinois,functionedtochannelandencouragecriticaldimensionsofthisdiaspora. The final section introducesdiscussionsandconclusions.

The Great Southern Diaspora and itsImpactonAfrican-Americans

TheliteraturefocusingontheSouthernDiasporais extensive, conceptually rich and growing, yetthe temporal and demographic framing of thisphenomenon has varied considerably. Somescholars have differentiated between twodistinct migrations, while others have treatedtheseasdifferent"phases"withinasingle,moreextensivediaspora(Gregory2005:pp.23;Strait2019: pp. 5). Scholars also offer differentstarting and ending dates, for this broaddiaspora, and temporally segment it indifferentways. Southerners had been relocating to thenorthandwestforcenturies,butthesemigrationflows noticeably accelerated during the earlypart of the 20th century, primarily due to thesurgingdemandfor laborrequiredbytheurbanindustrieslocatedinthesegrowingregions.Thisinitialmigratoryphasewasoriginallylabeledthe"Great Migration," a termmost commonly usedto reference the large-scale relocations ofsouthernAfrican-Americans to the urban north,atrendthatcontinuedtoincreasethroughWorldWar I and the early 1920s (Grossman 1989;Lemann 1991; Trotter 1991; Harrison 1992;Sernett1997;Holly2000,Strait2019:pp.5).Thediaspora exhibited a brief interlude during the1930s when the Great Depression led to anation-wide decline in job opportunities, anevent that placed considerable restrictions onmobilityratesamongruralpopulations.The depression-generated interlude in the

diaspora was followed by a second, moresignificant, phase of migration that began withtheonsetofWorldWarII,asboomingwar-timeindustries provided unprecedented job

opportunities available across the northernmanufacturing belt and along the west coast.This second phase, often referred to as theSecondGreatMigration,extendedfromtheearly1940s through the mid-1970s, an era duringwhich African-Americans and whites fled theruralsouthindroves(Gregory2009:pp16).Theconclusion of the 1970s marked yet anotherdemographic turn, one generated by globaleconomictransformationsthatculminatedinthedeindustrialization of the northernmanufacturingbeltandtheeconomicemergenceoftheSunbelt.By1980,thecombinationoftheseeconomic processes had altered the relativegeographyofemploymentopportunities,leadingthesouthernU.S. tobecomeamajordestinationfor in-migration, rather than a source of out-migration,ademographicshift that initiated thepost-diasporaperiodintheU.S.The labeling of this migration may lack

consistency,andscholarsmaydebateitsprecisetime- frame, but there has been no denying itsmagnitude. By the time the Southern Diasporawas fully complete, more than 28 millionsoutherners, includingat least20millionwhitesand 8 million African-Americans, had relocatedfrom the south to places north and west. Thismomentous geographical process ultimatelyrealigned regional geography, transformedAmerica's religious institutions, restructured itscities, reconfigured its political landscape andwasessentiallyresponsible for thedevelopmentofAmericanpopular culture (Gregory2005;pp.15). Like most major migrations, the SouthernDiaspora was partially a response to regionallyvariedeconomic factors,yetboth its causesanditsimpactsstematleastindirectlyfromitslinkstothereconstructionofrace.Relocating "up north" did far more for

African-American migrants than just enhanceemployment opportunities, it also offered ameans to escape from the brutal system of JimCrow, a complex socio-political system that hasbeendescribedasbeing"muchclosertoslaverythan normal employment conditions" (Lemann1991:pp.6).Thissystem,operatingasslaveryofeconomics, generally tied millions of ruralAfrican-Americans to a sharecropping lifestyledominatedbythelabor-intensiveneedsofcottonagriculture (Powledge 1992; pp. 55). Moreover,

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this systemalso incorporatedavarietyof socialnorms, both formal and informal, thatcollectively served to deny even themost basicforms of human rights to the labor force itwasdependent upon (Cobb 1992; Powledge 1992;Grant1993).By the mid-1940s, the combined effect of

increasingly abundant jobs in the urban northandtheever-presentdesiretofleethebrutalitiesof Jim Crow generated an exodus of African-Americansfromtheruralsouth.Theoutcomesofthisexoduswouldhavetransformativeeffectsonthe overall African-American experience, effectsthatwereultimatelymanifestworldwide(Griffin1996;Strait2019).WhentheSouthernDiasporawas complete, a population that had formerlybeen mostly southern and rural had becomemostlyurbanandspread throughout theUnitedStates. This same population, which hadformerly been heavily concentrated within anarchaic agricultural economic system, wouldenter the core of an emergent and rapidlygrowingmanufacturing economy. Perhapsmostimportantly, African-Americans previouslydenied access to basic political rights andculturalinfluence,wouldgainboth.

Narrating and Diffusing the DiasporaviaaGlobalNetwork

A major reason the Southern Diaspora was sosignificant,andperhapsthemajorreasonwhyitwas so impactful for African-Americans, wasbecause it was so thoroughly documented andnarrated. Thisparticularmigrationwaswrittenabout in newspapers, analyzed by socialscientists,memorializedinnovels,lampoonedbycomics, and depicted via music, television, film,radio, and the visual arts (Palmer 1982;Grossman 1989; Griffin 1996; Gregory 2005).Most importantly, these various forms ofnarration were occurring before, during andafter the migration, and not just by observers,but also frequently by migrants themselves.These narratives, some being disseminatedliterallywhile the diasporawas unfolding, offerconsiderable insight as to the motivations forand outcomes of relocation, and reveal how theexperiences of migrants related to both (SilveyandLawson1999;Lawson2000).Imaintainthat

blues artists, many of whom were indeedmigrants,wereresponsibleforsomeofthemostinfluential formsof diasporanarration. Forone,thesemusicianswereoperatingwithinaculturalarenaandduringatime,wherebywhites,bothinthe United States and elsewhere, where finallywilling to openly acknowledge and celebrateAfrican-American-influenced creativity on itsownterms(Levine1977;Floyd1995;Neal1999;Gregory 2005: pp.135). Furthermore, thesemusicianswerecreatingartthatbothenvelopedtheir rural past and enlivened their new urbanexperiences, thus providing a vivid soundtrackfortheoveralldiasporaexperience(Strait2019:pp.21).Perhapsmostimportantly,thediaspora-fueledmusicwas being disseminated through aglobalizing network of diffusional pathways,ensuringthatthecauses, impacts,andoutcomesof the diaspora would become visible to theworld.Strait and Fujimoto-Strait (2017) utilized a

panoramic perspective to demonstrate thetranscultural and global nature of what theyreferred to as "Delta Blues culture," a culturalmilieu that includes the blues music from theMississippi Delta, as well as the cultural andgeographical dynamics associatedwith it. Theydescribe the evolution of this transculturalmilieu as being a response to the emergence ofcultural influences that diffused among fourcontinents,multiplenation-states,andthePacificIslands of Hawaii. Figure 1 depicts the maindiffusional pathways comprising this multi-layerednetworkofculturalflowstheyidentified,with the migration flow generated by theSouthern Diaspora represented by Stream4.Priortoitflowingtotheurbannorthandwest,themusicalculturethatevolvedintheU.S.South,particularlywithintheMississippiDelta,alreadyrepresented a uniquely syncretic phenomenon.Once this transcultural musical form diffusednorth and west (Stream 4), in fact preciselybecauseitdiffused,itfurthertransformedintoanurban form that ultimately spread world-wide(Stream 5). The outcomes of this musicalevolution and its diffusion were significant innumerous ways and were to eventually return"home" to the U.S. via the British Invasion(Stream6).

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Figure1.PathwaysofMovementAssociatedwiththeDiffusionofBluesCulture.

Stream 1:Arab and Berber musical culturediffusefromNorthAfricaandtheMiddleEastinto portions of West Africa. These musicalinfluences syncretically combine with WestAfricanmusicaltraditions.Stream 2: Elements of West African musicalculture diffuse to theSouthern United Statesvia the Atlantic Slave trade; eventuallymerging with European musical traditionsandevolvingintobluesmusic.Streams3a&3b:MusicalinfluencesfromtheIberian Peninsula and the Hawaiian islandsdiffuse to the Southern U.S. via the guitartraditions of open tunings and slide guitar,contributing to thedevelopmentof adistinctsubgenre of blues (Delta blues) in theMississippiDelta.Stream 4: Blues music diffuses to the urbannorth andwest via the SouthernDiaspora. Auniquely influential genre of urban bluesdevelops in Chicago that was directlyinfluencedbyDeltablues.Stream5: Bluesdiffuse toEuropeviarecordsales, postwar radio and live performances.This music is highly received in the UnitedKingdom, particularly within London,Liverpool,andNewcastle.Stream6:Blues“returns”totheUnitedStatesvia blues-influenced rock ‘n’ roll. The BritishInvasion (e.g., Beatles, Rolling Stones,Animals,Yardbirds,LedZeppelin)re-exposesAmericatomusicfromtheDelta.It shouldbenoted that itwasnot justmusic

that was being transferred along with the

networkofflowsdepictedinFigure1.Themusicthat diffused along these various pathwayswasan exceptionally expressive and impressionableform of social art, thus it also functioned as aconduit for the narration of other forms ofcultural influence(Gregory2005:pp.135;Strait2012: pp. 201). For example, the rest of theUnited States and the world were not justconsuming themusic southernbluesartistshadbrought north and west, they were also beingintroduced to changing fashions, social styles,and different languages. Most importantly, byconsumingthese inter-connectedcultural forms,theworldwasalsoexposedtoandinfluencedbya new outlook and world view that evolved asthediasporaprogressed.

MuddyWatersasanAgentofChange

As amigrant andmusician, the story of MuddyWaters is central to the unfolding dynamics ofthe Southern Diaspora, in terms of both themotivations that drove the process, and itsspatial and cultural impacts. The geographicalbiographyofthisMississippi-bornbluesman,andthe spatial dimensions of hismusic, are utilizedhere to demonstrate the following: 1) the vitalrole that Water’s birthplace, the MississippiDelta, served as a geographical incubator thatspawned a uniquely transcultural musical formwhose influences weremade increasinglymoresignificant as the diaspora unfolded; 2) thesignificant degree to which Muddy’s life andmusicwereemblematicofthecausalfactorsthatfueled the mass migration, 3) the impacts thattheDelta’sblues culturehadonpopular cultureas it diffused globally, specifically in regards tomusical evolution, and 4) the critical role thismusic served in terms of mediating the majorcultural changes that manifest as the diasporaunfolded,includingitsinfluenceontheevolutionofAfrican-Americanidentity.

The Birth Place of a Transcultural BluesCulture

TheMississippiDelta, alsoknownas theYazoo-Mississippi Delta, is a geographically andculturallydistinctivesectioninthenorthwesternportion of the U.S. state of Mississippi. If onewere to define this region strictly in terms of

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physical and cultural geography, as opposed tousing official state political boundaries, it alsoencompasses portions of Arkansas andLouisiana. Geomorphically, the region is not atruedelta; rather it is an alluvial floodplain, theMississippi portion of which lies between theMississippi and Yazoo rivers (Figure 2). Theregion has frequently been referred to as “TheMostSouthernPlaceonEarth,“areferencetoitsunique social, cultural, racial, economic andpolitical history, rather than its actual absolutelocation (Cobb 1992; Willis 2000; Woodruff2003; Wilson 2004; Ferris and Hinson 2009).The region is alsowidely known for its vibrantmusical heritage, particularly in regards to theorigins of Blues, Rock 'n“ Roll and Gospel, thusexplaining its common reference as both the“land where the blues began,“ and the“birthplace of American music“ (Lomax 2002).Blues heritage as a form of tourism is vividlyevidenton the landscapeof theDelta,asa largenumber of towns, cities, and/or sites across theregion making some claim linking it to the“birthplace of the blues.“ Assertions of tourismbrochures aside, it is obviously impossible todefinitively determine where any musical formwas actually “born.“ However, there can be nodenying that themusic from the Delta, and themanymusiciansresponsibleforitscreation,havebeenespeciallyinfluential.FewDeltamusicians,in fact, few musicians from anywhere and/orfromanygenre,havehadasmuchimpactontheworld of music as Muddy Waters. Thesesubstantialimpactscanbepartiallyexplainedbyhis talent and overwhelming drive to succeed,traits that he certainly possessed in abundance,yethismusicaltrajectorywasalsoinfluencedbyandbenefitedfromtheculturalcontextuniquetohisplaceofbirth.

Figure2.TheMississippiDelta(Mapbyauthor)

MuddyWaterswas born around1913 in thesouthernpartof theDelta, in IssaquenaCounty,inacommunityknownasJug’sCorner.Whilehewasveryyoung,hemovedeightymilesnorthtothe Stovall Plantation, in Coahoma County,Mississippi. It was this community, located justoutside the city of Clarksdale, that he wouldalways to refer to as home (Gordon 2002: pp.3).Ahistoricalmarkernowsitsattheformersiteofhisboyhoodplantationhome,butthemusicallegacyofStovallPlantationandCoahomaCountypredates the presence of the community‘smostfamous resident son. In 1901 Harvardarcheologist Charles Peabody was directingexcavations in this same immediate area inefforts to uncover Native American remains,endeavors that ultimately led to the firstacademic publication documenting the Delta’sunique music. This came to fruition whenPeabody witnessed and started noting thedistinctive music his local African-Americanworkteamsusedtoproviderhythmandcadencefor their laborious tasks, aswell as the unusualsongstheysharedduringmomentsofleisure.Hispaper entitled “Notes on Negro Music“ offered“suggestions for the future study in musicalclassification,“ and was ultimately published intheJournalofAmericanFolklore(Peabody1903;pp. 148). In this work, Peabody describes

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musical strains of what are now recognized askeyingredientsforDeltaBlues.Thisincludedtheintervaluseof“threechords“onguitarasmeansto echo a singing voice,monotonous yet simplealterations in pitch, lyrical themes focusing ontales of “hard luck“ and “love,“ and unusualrhythms and dissonances now referred to as“blues“ notes (Peabody 1903; pp. 152; Gioia2008;pp.21).Inhindsight,themostgeographicallyrelevant

observation Peabody shared in this paperinvolved his descriptions of late-night musicalperformances by one particular “old negro”singer. The experience of witnessing this mansingmade such an impression on Peabody thathe described the vocal delivery in vivid detail,usingcharacterizationsthatwould laterbeusedto delineate “field hollers.“ This older African-American laborer, whose song-style Peabodywouldsumupasbeing“monotonousbutweird,“wasknown tobe from the sameplantation thatMuddyWaterswastolatercallhome,andwherehe was first recorded – the Stovall Plantation(Peabody 1903; pp. 152; Lomax 2002). Giventhat the “FatherofUrbanBlues “grewup in thesame locale as the anonymous singer Peabodyencountered,wecanprobablyassumetheywereexposed to similar cultural influences. AlanLomax,whoalongwithcolleagueJohnWork,wasresponsibleforfirstrecordingWatersonStovallin 1941, engaged in numerous field recordingsacross the Delta during the same time period,including several within Coahoma County. Thetwomenencounteredvariousexamplesof“field”or “work hollers“ during their field endeavorsandafterhearingWatersplay for the first time,classifiedthebluesman’ssingingstyleas fallingwithin this same vocal tradition. Lomaxconsistently interpreted their numerousencounters with this style of music, includingtheirrecordingswithMuddyWaters,asevidenceof the widespread African musical influenceevidentwithinthebluesgenre(Lomax2002).Subsequent researchoncultural linkageshas

demonstratedoverwhelmingevidencethatbluesmusic cannot be solely defined by Africancustoms and musical traditions alone, evidencethatcanbedirectlyconfirmedbyconsideringtheuniqueinfluencesthatMuddyWatershadonthemusicalworld.

Musicologist and blues writer SamuelCharters, following decades of field-work inAfrica, verified a host of African influences, yetconcludedthat“Americanblues“wasessentiallya“newworld“culturalproduct(Charters1981).A cartographic interpretation of the culturalflows identified by Strait and Fujimoto-Strait(2017, pp. 5) confirms the Charter’s hypothesisandhighlightsthetransculturalrootsbehindthemusical influences ofMuddyWaters (Figure 1).The unique musical form that manifest or thatwas “born,“ in the Delta (Delta Blues) wascertainly African-rooted, yet was also heavilygerminated by multi-layered cultural influencesfromanumberofotherplaces(Figure1:Streams1,2,3aand3b).Caseinpoint,MuddyWatersdidindeed vocalize his Delta blues music using a“field holler” song-style that combined thepractice of melisma, a vocal tradition linked toIslamic calls to prayer common throughoutNorth Africa and theMiddle East,with rhythm-based linguistic heritages of West Africa(Streams 1 & 2, respectively). Yet his signaturestyle of combining the slide guitar (Stream 3a)withthetraditionofusingopen-tunings(Stream3b), what he referred to as “Spanish tuning,“represents Hawaiian, European andMediterranean influences. In short, while thehistory of theMississippi Delta ensured that itscultural tonewould be heavily impacted by themaintenance of African musical traditions, thelinkages this specific region had with a diversecollection of other places iswhat led it to “givebirth“tosomethinguniquelyinfluential.

CausalFactorsDrivingtheDiaspora

Muddy Water’s geographical biography isdirectly and/or indirectly linked toanumberoffactors responsible for encouraging massmigration from the Delta. Accordingly, his lifeexemplifies the largermeaningsof theSouthernDiaspora. In the fall of 1944 the completemechanization of cotton agriculture, atechnological process that transformed thesouthern United States and the world, waslaunched in Coahoma County (Holley 2000).This process commenced on the HopsonPlantation, a cotton plantation located a meresevenmilesfromMuddy’shomeatStovall,whenInternational Harvester introduced the first

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commercially successful mechanical cottonpicker. With the successful introduction of thismachine, the Mississippi Delta became the firstregion in theworldwhere commercial acreagesof cottonweregrownandharvestedcompletelyby mechanical methods. In time, thistechnological shift almost totally eliminated thedemand for labor throughout the cotton belt,whichinturneffectivelymadethesharecroppingsystem extinct. Accordingly, agriculturalmechanizationultimatelymademigrationto thenorthernandwesterncitiesaviablealternative,if not a required alternative, for southernAfrican-Americanswhose traditional livelihoodswere terminated. It is worth noting that thesuccessful introduction of this particularmachine was the culmination of a largertechnological process, which also included theincreased use of trucks, herbicides, mechanicalcultivators, and tractors. In fact, prior tomigrating to Chicago, Muddy Waters himselfbenefitedfromandwasaparticipantinanearlystage of this technological revolution. When hewasfirstrecordedbyAlanLomaxandJohnWorkin 1941, the future Father of Electric Blueswasthen serving as the main tractor driver on theStovallPlantation.Themechanical cotton picker eventually had

profound sociological impacts that extended farbeyond the world of agriculture, or eveneconomics. Holley (2000) has thoroughlydiscussedthemorecomplexspillovereffectsthatagricultural mechanization had in terms ofregionalconvergence,civilrights,andsocialandpolitical change. The plantation system in thesouthwasessentiallydependentuponaccesstoalarge labor force that was poor, ignorant,controllable, and lacking in overall economicopportunity. According to Holley, the regioncould not transition from the operational andintellectual defense of this system,without thedramatic technological breakthrough providedby the mechanical cotton picker and theagricultural transformation that followed(Holley2000). The proliferation of the mechanicalcottonpickerwasanundeniablefactorlinkedtothe Southern Diaspora, yet Holley also offeredcompelling empirical evidence that agriculturalmechanization was as much a response to out-migration from the south as it was a cause of

migration. In short, cottonplantersmayhave inactuality been forced to implementmechanization because their traditional laborforce was rapidly disappearing (to be precise,theyweremovingnorthandwest).Holley’sevidenceregarding thenatureof the

causal links between outmigration andmechanization suggests that the primarymotivation fueling the Southern Diaspora wasmost likely the strong desire among African-Americans to flee the brutally exploitive systemof Jim Crow. The structural and discriminatoryinequities that defined this system – arbitrarilylow wages, inferior or non-existent schooling,severerestrictionsregardingmobilityand/ortherealization of political and economicopportunities – were arguably more deeplyensconced in Muddy Water’s Delta home thananywhere else in the United States. (Woodruff2003). Consequently, frustrations with andopposition to this system were themesconsistently expressed via the dissemination ofDelta Blues, particularly within Muddy’s bluesmusic.Muddycombinedthemesofmistreatmentand movement in his first two recordings forLomax andWork on Stovall Plantation in 1941,vividlysharingdesiresthatresembledaspiritualcallingtoleavethissystem:

“Well, if I feel tomorrow like I feel today, I’mgoing to pack my suitcase and make mygetaway.““LordI’mtroubled,I’mallworriedinmind.“-IBe’sTroubled(Lomaxetal.1941a)

Well,I’mleavingthismorning, ifIhavetoridetheblinds.Ifeelmistreatedgirl,youknownow,I don’tminddying. - CountryBlues (Lomax etal.1941b)

Evoking the spiritual idea of earthly“troubles,“ a theme very familiar to African-Americans southerners immersed withintraditions of Christianity, “I Be’s Troubled“expressed the deeply felt sorrows shared bymillionsofpotentialmigrants. Thesingeroffersgeographical mobility as a solution to thesetroubles, and in “Country Blues” evendemonstrates a specific form of mobility as apotentialcure, submitting the “blinds” (train)asa mechanism to mitigate this mistreatment.Here,we are witnessing the psychologicalemphasis on movement as a form of cultural

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freedom, a theme frequently used, bothmetaphorically and literally, within variousAfrican-Americanmusical traditions. The songsexpress the dream of realizing this form offreedom by leaving the Delta and its troublesbehind, a dream Muddy Waters shared withmanyofhislisteners.When he re-recorded this same song in

Chicago in1948as “ICan’tBeSatisfied,“Muddyaltered his geographical perspective bysuggestinghehad already left the south, clearlydemonstrating an awareness that his homewasnowtheurbannorth.However,hestillexpressesthemesof frustration,exploitation,andloss,andoffers mobility or movement as a copingmechanism to alleviate these frustrations:Mobilityisinterpretedhereinbothitsliteralandfigurative senses; movement away from thegeographicsourceofmistreatment,aswellasthefigurative movement of solidarity required tochangecollectivesocialconditions:

“Goingbackdownsouth,child;don’tyouwanttogo?...Well,babe,Ijustcan’tbesatisfied,andI just can’t keep from crying.“ - I Can’t BeSatisfied(Waters1948)

Thissong’srefrain,‘I’veneverbeensatisfied,“echoes a folk song connected to a common ringshouts game popular among adolescents in theDelta during the early part of the 20th century(RutkoffandScott2005).Forexample,aversionof this song, entitled “Satisfied“ and credited toFlorenceStampandagroupofanonymousgirls,wasrecordedbyAlanLomaxinCoahomaCounty,outsideachurchinFriarsPoint,in1942(Lomax2002).Thisringshoutsgameplacesparticipantsin a circle, where they chant and clap insyncopated fashion, and are encouraged toswitch to a new dance partner when theybecome dissatisfied with a former one. In asimilar fashion,Muddy’sbluesmusic,born fromthesameculturalandgeographicalenvironment,motivated his listeners to cure theirdissatisfactionsby leaving their troublesbehindand pursuing a better life elsewhere. ManysouthernAfrican-Americansfromtheruralsouthdid indeed follow the same paths as MuddyWaters and migrated to the urban north andwest. In an interesting twist of irony, some ofthese migrants would eventually find work in

factories in the urban north that manufacturedthe mechanical cotton picker, the veryimplement largely responsible for terminatingthe traditional livelihood available in theirformerruralsouthernhome.

MusicalEvolutionandtheGlobalizationofBluesCulture

Muddy Waters left the Mississippi Delta forChicago in 1943, and shortly after arrivingbecame an influential entertainment fixture inthe clubs, bars, and taverns located throughoutthecity’s famedSouthSide. Thebluesmusichecreated in his new urban home remained Deltarooted, both thematically and sonically, yetreflected changes manifest with the diaspora.This new urban environment, with its crowdedand noisy nocturnal atmosphere, placed anemphasis on a strong voice and requiredamplified instrumentation. Muddy contributedtothetransitionofDeltaBluesintoUrbanBlues(or Chicago Blues) by beefing up the rhythmsections of his band, and by doing so re-establishedwhatwas to become the traditionalmusical arrangement – two guitars, harmonica,piano, bass, and drums. This transition wasencouraged by his band’s reliance on atechnological implement that in many waysrepresents the blues man’s answer to themechanical cotton-picker; the electric guitar. Intime,thisnewinstrument–the“rhythmguitar“–replaced the piano as the primary feature ofrhythm sections, a shift that enhanced themusicaltexturesandgrooves,andenabledbluessounds to grow louder, and become morerhythmicallypenetrating(Gioia2008;pp:221). The uniquely raw, electric, and sonically

intense urban music Muddy formulated inChicago became increasingly influential as itcontinued to evolve geographically, musically,and culturally. After taking root in northerncities, this Delta-bornmusic eventually diffusedtoaworldwideaudience,ageographicalprocessstimulated by advances in post-war radio,overseas record sales and eventually viaperformancesbybluesmusiciansthemselves.Itsimmediate effects, those functioning as acollective springboard for itsbroader influenceson the world, were realized once this urbanmusicdiffused toEurope.Themusicwashighly

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received in theUnitedKingdom,especiallyafteryouth inLondon,LiverpoolandNewcastleweredirectly exposed to live performances by Delta-born blues artists (stream5). For example, thesoundand the verynatureofBritishmusicwastotally transformed following Muddy Water’samplifiedandshockinglyinfluentialperformanceat the1958Leed’sFestival (Gordon2002;Gioia2008; Strait and Fujimoto-Strait 2017). It washis music, and other Delta-rooted blues fromChicago,thatdirectlyinfluencedahostofBritishbandsandartists,suchastheRollingStones,EricClapton, the Animals, the Yardbirds, and LedZeppelin, groups that ultimately diffused theirown energetic blues-influenced genre of rockmusicbacktotheUnitedStates(Figure1;stream6). The comments of Muddy’s contemporarybluesmenJohnLeeHooker,alsobornandraisedintheDelta,sumsuptheculturalimpactsthisso-called“BritishInvasion”hadintheUnitedStates:

“...the groups from England really started thebluesrollingandgettingbiggeramongthekids– thewhitekids.Atonetime,fifteenyearsback,theblueswerejustamongtheblacks–theoldblack people. And this uprise started inEngland by the Beatles, Animals, RollingStones,itstartedeverybodydiggingtheblues”-JohnLeeHooker(Hall1998)

The impactofMuddyWater’smusic, and theDelta, on this back-and-forth flow of bluesculture (Figure 1; streams 5 & 6) is bestexemplified by the trajectory of The RollingStones. The group took their name from one ofWater’s signature tunes (Rolling Stone), and in1965 they traveled directly from London toChicago to record in the exact same South SidestudiowhereMuddy himself recorded his earlyhits (Strait and Fujimoto-Strait 2017). Itwas inthis studio, Chess Records, that they recordedtheirfirstnumberonehit,asongnowconsideredoneofthegreatestRock’N‘Rollsongsofalltime;“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.“ This tuneexpressed the alienation, frustrations, andrebelliousness exhibited by youth worldwide,thusvividlycapturingthecounter-culturalspiritofthetime.ThisinfluentialRock’N’Rollsongwasinspired both thematically and musically byMuddy‘sChicagobluessong“Can’tBeSatisfied,”thus its roots extend back to the Mississippi

Delta, the cultural hearth where its musicalantecedentsevolved.

The Spatial and Social Evolution ofAfrican-AmericanIdentity

The counter-cultural appeal of Muddy’s Delta-rooted Chicago Blues was not limited todisaffectedwhiteyouth,nordidits impactsonlymanifest viamusicalprogression.The increaseddissemination of this music also played aprofound role in narrating the significantchanges inblackconsciousness thatoccurredasthe diaspora progressed. In fact, the sameboisterous celebrations of cultural freedom thatmotivatedthediaspora,musicalexpressionsthatrepresent both causes and effects of mass-migration, is exactly what attracted so manyrebelliouswhitesonbothsidesoftheAtlantictothe music of Muddy Waters. For instance, amajor distinction between the rural identitytraditionally shared among African-Americansacrosstheplantationsouth,andthenewAfrican-Americanidentitythatdevelopedasthediasporaprogressed, was the open expression ofmasculinity common to the urban north. TheurbanmusicMuddyproducedinChicago,suchashis hits “Hoochie Coochie Man” and “MannishBoy,” openly contested and flaunted theoppressive social constraints ensconced in hisformer rural home, constraints that severelycurtailedanyexpressionsofmasculinity:

“The gypsy woman told my mother before Iwasborn,Igotaboy-child'scomin,'He'sgonnabe a son-of-a-gun, He's gonna make prettywomen's, Jump and shout, Then the worldgonna know, What this all about.” - I’m YourHoochieCoochieMan(DixonandChess,1954)

“I’m a man; Spell, M. A. chile, N. That’ll wellwithin’ man’ No B. O. child Y; That meanmannishBoy;I’maman;I’mafullgrownman…I’m a natural born lover’s man….I’m a man,child;I’marollin’stone…I’mthegreatestmanalive”-MannishBoy(Waters1955)

These defiant expressions of self-confidencewere certainly popular among rebellious whiteyouth, but they evoked significantly deepermeanings to a southern African-Americanpopulationcopingwiththeoppressivesystemof

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Jim Crow. Muddy offers repeatedembellishments regarding the extraordinarynature of his birth and boisterously celebratedhis manhood, thus providing vicariousmotivation to a fellow African Americanpopulation that aspired to leave a social systemthat effectively dehumanized them. Moreover,by openly asserting his sexual prowess in hismusic,somethingtherestrictivesocialhierarchyofJimCrowwouldcertainlyneverallow,Muddywas doing more than simply bragging abouttawdry encounters. His musical narration wassharing and celebrating with his African-American listeners,manyofwhomwere formermigrants, the confirmation that these socialconstraintsweretumblingdown.Urban blues and the counter-cultural

narratives it invoked, did not cease diffusingonce they took root in Chicago. The festivecelebration of newly realized cultural freedomsevidentwithMuddy’sChicagoblues,suchasthefreedoms of social and spatial mobility andexpressive boasts of “manhood,” wereincreasinglyembracedbyabroaderaudienceasthey diffused globally. In I’m Your HootchieCoochie Man the bluesman presciently andexplicitly acknowledges this diffusional effect–“the world gonna know, What this all about”(DixonandChess1954).Themostvividexampleof this pertains to the vigorous statement of“manhood” offered in his songMannish Boy. InthissongthebluesmanemphaticallynegatesanyquestionsregardingAfrican-Americanmanhood,emphatically challenging the traditional socialnormscustomarytohisplaceofbirthbydirectlyspellingout“I’maMan,spelledM-A-N….NoB-O-Y.” The deeper meanings behind his lyricaldissentlaterbecamemoreformallyevidentwiththe symbolic use of “I AM a MAN” as a sloganduring the1968Memphis,Tennesseesanitationstrike,aprotestwherebyMartinLutherKing, Jr.expanded the Civil Rights Movement by callingforabroaderfocusonhumanrights(Estes2005;Honey2007). Muddy’sboisterousexpressionofhumandignityhasmorerecentlyprovedtobeastemporally and globally resonant as his music,and as transcultural, when it reemerged as agalvanizingsymbolthroughoutNorthAfricaandtheMiddleEastduring theArabSpringpoliticaluprisings(Friedman2011).

DiscussionsandConcludingRemarks

In his autobiography, the Harlem Renaissancepoet Langston Hughes offered insight on theimpact of art on the African-African experienceby stating; “the ordinary Negro hadn’t heard ofthe Harlem Renaissance. And if they had, ithadn’t raised their wages any.” (Hughes 1993;pp. 228).The same isnot truewith themusicalartthatevolvedduringtheSouthernDiaspora,amigratory process whose effects were widelydisseminated via song andwhich ultimately didfar more than just raise wages. This workexplores the far-reaching global impacts of the20th-century mass migration of African-Americans from the rural south to the urbannorth and west and demonstrates the criticalrole that Delta-born Chicago blues, specificallythe blues music of Muddy Waters, played interms of narrating this diaspora. This diasporaunfoldedovermultipledecades,andentailedthemigratoryflowofmillionsofpeoplefromseveraldifferent places of origin, to numerousdestinations. Moreover, this geographicphenomenon was widely documented in avariety of ways, including by musical voicesacrossmultiplegenres,noneofwhichshouldbemarginalized or overlooked. This researchspecifically focuses on the global significance ofthis diaspora by revealing how Muddy Water’smusicservedtomotivatebothitscauses,anditsimpacts,bothwithintheUnitedStatesandacrossthe world. Thus, this work contributed to agrowing literature that recognizes migrantsthemselves as creative subjects of change whoreinterpretthesignificantdevelopmentsoftheirown movements, as well as the collectivemovements of others (Lawson 2000; ToynbeeandDueck2011;Escobar2012;Clark2014).This research directly contributes to the

larger body of work that emphasizes thesignificance of local contexts, and local culturalpractices, to larger diasporic processes thatoperate at a global scale. It is clear that theSouthern Diaspora discussed in this paperrepresents a single link in a larger and morecomplex circuitry of flows involving themovementofpeopleandcultureoverspace.Theglobal resonance of Muddy Water’s musicdemonstrates that the migratory connection

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between the Mississippi Delta and Chicago,Illinois functioned as a crucial link thatchanneled significant implications of thisextensive circuitry of cultural exchange. In hisbook, The Most Southern Place on Earth,historian James Cobb (1992) characterized theMississippiDeltaasaregionthatexhibited“closeand consistent interaction” with a host ofprevailing national and global forces. Forinstance, the transformative effects of themechanization of cotton agriculture were firstinstigated in the Delta, but represent localresponsestoglobaleconomicforces.Intime,thesingular event that transpired near Muddy’sboyhood home, the introduction of themechanical cotton picker, ushered in a broadarray of social, political and economic changesthat manifest far beyond Coahoma County,Mississippi. The underlying factor that initiatedthese changes, the decision byDelta planters toimplement mechanization, was the realizationthat so many African-American laborers hadheeded the musical call of Muddy Waters andmade a “getaway” to the urban north. Thetranscultural music that encouraged andmotivated thismass-migration, itself a result ofmultipleculturalflowsfromavarietyofsources,was just as globally expansive as the economicforces to which migrants were responding. Inshort, by demonstrating the complex spatialdynamics linked to both the Delta’s innovativeagricultural economy and its evolving bluesculture, this paper confirms that Cobb’s viewshave a geographical parallel; the uniquesignificance of the Mississippi Delta and thebluesmusictowhichitgavebirthareduetotheregion’sconnectionstoavarietyofotherplaces.Muddy Water’s life may be most directly

linked to the Mississippi Delta and Chicago,

Illinois, but the impacts his music engendered,much like the music itself, were trulytranscultural and transnational in scope. Thediffusion of his Delta-born music to the urbannorth fueled a network of cultural exchangesbetween the U.S. and the rest of theworld thatessentially reshaped popular culture. Themusical outcome of these culturaltransformations includes the numerousmusicalprogeny of theDelta blues – suchRock’N’ Roll,Rhythm&Blues,Soul,Country,andRap.Muddyhimself emphatically identified the musicalgeneticsviasong;“Welltheblueshadababyandthey named the babyRock&Roll” (Waters andMcGhee 1977). Yet in this paper, I offerMuddyWaters as the voice of the Southern Diasporabecause the dissemination of hismusic ensuredthat millions of ordinary people, both African-Americanandwhite,wereexposedtomorethanjust newly urbanized music. Blues artists thatboisterously sang about their own migratorymotivations and experiences were not justentertainers; they were mediating the deepermeanings of the diaspora forAfrican-Americanseverywhere.Byassertingthenaturalfreedomtopursuebettereconomicandsocialopportunitiesin the north and west, far removed from theconfines of the Jim Crow south, diasporaparticipantswereresponsible forgivingbirthtoa collective consciousness that reconfiguredAfrican-American identity and encouraged themodern Civil Rights Movement. This researchconfirms that the counter-cultural narrativesevident in Muddy Water’s Chicago Blues,including the boisterous celebration of“manhood” that was shared worldwide, wereproviding agency for the interconnecteddynamicsdrivingtheseprocesses.

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