Editing Muddy Waters (section)

=== Performances and crossover, 1958–1970 ===
Muddy toured England with Spann in 1958 where they were backed by local [[Dixieland]]-style or "[[trad jazz]]" musicians, including [[Chris Barber]] and members of his band.{{sfn|Gordon|2002|pp=157–159}} At the time, English audiences had only been exposed to acoustic folk blues, as performed by artists such as [[Sonny Terry]], [[Brownie McGhee]], and [[Big Bill Broonzy]].{{sfn|Gordon|2002|pp=157–159}}  Both the musicians and audiences were unprepared for his performance, which included electric [[slide guitar]] playing.{{sfn|Gordon|2002|pp=157–159}}  He recalled:

{{blockquote|They thought I was a Big Bill Broonzy [but] I wasn't. I had my amplifier and Spann and I was going to do a Chicago thing. We opened up in Leeds, England. I was definitely too loud for them. The next morning we were in the headlines of the paper, 'Screaming Guitar and Howling Piano'.{{sfn|Gordon|2002|pp=157–159}}}}

Although his performances alienated the old guard, some younger musicians, including [[Alexis Korner]] and [[Cyril Davies]] from Barber's band, were inspired to go in the more modern, electric blues direction.{{sfn|Eder|1996|p=377}} Korner and Davies' own groups included musicians who would later form [[the Rolling Stones]] (named after Waters's 1950 hit "Rollin' Stone"), [[Cream (band)|Cream]], and the original [[Fleetwood Mac]].{{sfn|Eder|1996|p=377}}

In the 1960s, his performances continued to introduce a new generation to Chicago blues.{{sfn|Gordon|2002|p=167}}  At the [[Newport Jazz Festival]], he recorded one of the first live blues albums, ''[[At Newport 1960]]'', and his performance of "Got My Mojo Working" was nominated for a [[Grammy award]].{{sfn|Gordon|2002|p=169}} In September 1963, in Chess' attempt to connect with [[folk music]] audiences, he recorded ''[[Folk Singer (album)|Folk Singer]]'', which replaced his trademark electric guitar sound with an acoustic band, including a then-unknown [[Buddy Guy]] on acoustic guitar.{{sfn|Gordon|2002|p=183}} ''Folk Singer'' was not a commercial success, but it was lauded by critic [[Joe Kane]], and in 2003 ''[[Rolling Stone (magazine)|Rolling Stone]]'' magazine placed it at number 280 on its list of the [[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|500 greatest albums of all time]].<ref>{{cite news
|date=December 11, 2003|title=The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|newspaper=[[Rolling Stone]]|issue=937|pages=83–178|publisher=Straight Arrow|issn=0035-791X|oclc=1787396}}</ref> In October 1963, Waters participated in the first of several annual European tours, organized as the [[American Folk Blues Festival]], during which he also performed more acoustic-oriented numbers.{{sfn|Gordon|2002|pp=184–185}}

In 1967, he re-recorded several [[blues standards]] with [[Bo Diddley]], Little Walter, and Howlin' Wolf, which were marketed as ''[[Super Blues]]'' and ''The Super Super Blues Band'' albums in Chess' attempt to reach a rock audience.{{sfn|Gordon|2002|p=197}} ''The Super Super Blues Band'' united Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters, who had a long-standing rivalry.<ref name="musicradar-life-times-wolf" /> It was, as Ken Chang wrote in his [[AllMusic]] review, flooded with "contentious studio banter [...] more entertaining than the otherwise unmemorable music from this stylistic train wreck".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-super-super-blues-band-mw0000313000|title=The Super Super Blues Band – Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|author=Ken Chang|access-date=July 2, 2019}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=April 2021}} In 1968, at the insistance of [[Marshall Chess]], he recorded ''[[Electric Mud]]'', an album intended to revive his career by backing him with [[Rotary Connection]], a [[psychedelic soul]] band that Chess had put together.{{sfn|Gordon|2002|pp=205–207}} The album proved controversial; although it reached number 127 on the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]] album chart, it was scorned by many critics, and eventually disowned by Muddy himself:

{{blockquote|That ''Electric Mud'' record I did, that one was dogshit.  But when it first came out, it started selling like wild, and then they started sending them back.  They said, "This can't be Muddy Waters with all this shit going on – all this [[wah-wah pedal|wow-wow]] and [[distortion (music)|fuzztone]]."{{sfn|Gordon|2002|p=207}}}}

Nonetheless, six months later he recorded a follow-up album, ''[[After the Rain (Muddy Waters album)|After the Rain]]'', which had a similar sound and featured many of the same musicians.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/after-the-rain-mw0000867041|title=Muddy Waters: After the Rain – Album Review|last=Eder|first=Bruce|publisher=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=September 12, 2017}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=April 2021}}

Later in 1969, he recorded and released the album ''[[Fathers and Sons (album)|Fathers and Sons]]'', where he returned to his classic Chicago sound. ''Fathers and Sons'' had an all-star backing band that included [[Mike Bloomfield|Michael Bloomfield]] and [[Paul Butterfield]], longtime fans whose desire to play with him was the impetus for the album.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Paige |first=Earl |date=August 16, 1969 |title=A Chess Album That May Set a Trend |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |page=46 |access-date=September 12, 2017|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qSkEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Fathers+and+Sons%22+Muddy+Waters&pg=RA1-PA46}}</ref> It was the most successful album of Muddy Waters' career, reaching number 70 on the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]].{{citation needed|date=September 2017}}