"Electric Mud" is the fifth studio album by Muddy Waters, released in 1968 with members of Rotary Connection as his backing band. This album presents Muddy Waters in a psychedelic light, reflecting an effort by producer Marshall Chess to reach a rock audience.
The album peaked at number 127 on the Billboard 200 chart and was notable for blending electric blues with psychedelic elements, sparking controversy within the music community.
In the 1960s, Marshall Chess aimed to introduce Muddy Waters' music to a younger demographic. Chess Records, founded by his father Leonard Chess, began releasing compilation albums of Waters' older music, repackaged with psychedelic artwork. In 1967, Marshall Chess established Cadet Concept Records as a subsidiary of Chess Records, with its first release being the debut album of the psychedelic band Rotary Connection.
The concept for Electric Mud emerged as a way to help Muddy Waters financially without altering his core sound. Marshall Chess envisioned it as a way to market Waters' music to fans of psychedelic rock bands who had been influenced by him and Howlin' Wolf. Muddy Waters himself expressed interest in reaching the younger audience, noting that he had performed for many "so-called hippies."
To achieve the desired psychedelic sound, Chess gathered a group of avant-garde jazz and rock musicians from Chicago, including Gene Barge, Pete Cosey, and Phil Upchurch. The recording sessions featured elements like the wah-wah pedal and fuzzbox, alongside the incorporation of electronic organ and saxophone to enhance the rhythm.
The album includes a free jazz interpretation of "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man," featuring Gene Barge on concert harp. Muddy Waters' rendition of "Let's Spend the Night Together," a cover of the Rolling Stones' hit, carries a gospel-soul influence reminiscent of Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love." The track "She's All Right" even interpolates The Temptations' "My Girl."
However, the use of a studio band posed challenges for Muddy Waters, who struggled to connect with the psychedelic sound. He felt that if the feeling was lost, the music lost its essence. He expressed frustration that he couldn't perform the album's material live, questioning the purpose of recording if it couldn't be replicated in concert.
The album’s title does not refer to the use of electric guitars, as Waters had long incorporated them into his music. Instead, "electric" is used in a psychedelic context.
Electric Mud was released with a straightforward black-and-white cover that didn’t explicitly signal its psychedelic nature. The inner spread featured photographs of Muddy Waters at a beauty parlor. The album was reissued on CD in 1996 and later combined with After the Rain on a single disc in 2011. A new vinyl edition was released by Third Man Records in November 2017.
