Editing Muddy Waters (section)

===Resurgence and later career, 1971–1982===
[[File:Muddy Waters.jpg|thumb|Muddy Waters with [[James Cotton]], 1978]]
In 1971, Chess recorded a show at [[Mister Kelly's]], an upscale Chicago nightclub.  The album signaled Muddy's return to form and cemented his appeal with white audiences.

In 1972, he won his first [[Grammy Award]], for [[Grammy Award for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording|Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording]] for ''They Call Me Muddy Waters'', a 1971 album of old but previously unreleased recordings.

Later in 1972, he flew to England to record the album ''[[The London Muddy Waters Sessions]]''. The album was a follow-up to the previous year's ''[[The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions]]''. Both albums were the brainchild of Chess Records producer Norman Dayron, and were intended to showcase Chicago blues musicians playing with the younger British rock musicians whom they had inspired. He brought with him two American musicians, harmonica player Carey Bell and guitarist [[Sammy Lawhorn]]. The British and Irish musicians who played on the album included [[Rory Gallagher]], [[Steve Winwood]], [[Rick Grech]], and [[Mitch Mitchell]]. Muddy was dissatisfied by the results, due to the British musicians' more rock-oriented sound. "These boys are top musicians. They can play with me, put the book before 'em and play it, you know," he told Guralnick. "But that ain't what I need to sell my people. It ain't the Muddy Waters sound. An' if you change my sound, then you gonna change the whole man." He stated, "My blues look so simple, so easy to do, but it's not. They say my blues is the hardest blues in the world to play."{{sfn|Palmer|1982|p=103}} Nevertheless, the album won another Grammy, again for Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording.

He won another Grammy for his last LP on Chess, ''[[The Muddy Waters Woodstock Album]]'', recorded in 1975 with a new band, guitarist [[Bob Margolin]]; pianist [[Pinetop Perkins]] and [[Paul Butterfield]] on harmonica with [[Levon Helm]] and [[Garth Hudson]] of [[the Band]] on drums, organ, accordion and saxophone.<ref name="Grammy">{{cite web|last=Dahl|first=Bill|title=Muddy Waters|website=Blues Finland|url=http://www.blues-finland.com/english/muddy_waters_biography_3|year=2008}}</ref> In November 1976, he appeared as a featured special guest at the Band's [[Last Waltz]] farewell concert, and in the subsequent 1978 [[feature film]] documentary of the event.

He performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1972, 1974 and 1977. An album, CD, and streaming release featuring many of his best known songs from these performances was compiled in 2021 as ''Muddy Waters: The Montreux Years''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Smotroff |first=Mark |date=2021-12-15 |title=Listening Report: Muddy Waters' The Montreux Years on Vinyl, CD, Streaming. - Audiophile Review |url=https://audiophilereview.com/audiophile/listening-report-muddy-waters-the-montreux-years-on-vinyl-cd-streaming/ |access-date=2023-05-14 |language=en-US}}</ref>  In 1974, his backing musicians in Montreux included Buddy Guy, Pinetop Perkins, [[Junior Wells]], and Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman. Wyman and Perkins also performed with him in 1977.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-04-19 |title=Album Review: Muddy Waters -- The Montreux Years |url=http://blog.musoscribe.com/index.php/2022/04/19/album-review-muddy-waters-the-montreux-years/ |access-date=2023-05-14 |website=Musoscribe: Bill Kopp's Music Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref>

From 1977 to 1981, blues musician [[Johnny Winter]], who idolized Muddy since childhood and who had become a friend,{{sfn|O'Neal|Van Singel|2013|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Jfa3AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA155 155]}}<ref>{{cite book |title=Slide Guitar: Know the Players, Play the Music |first1=Pete |last1=Madsen |publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-4768-5322-2 |page=53 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_UhMAgAAQBAJ}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=_UhMAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT53 Extract of page 53]</ref> produced four albums for him, all on the [[Blue Sky Records]] label: the studio albums ''[[Hard Again]]'' (1977), ''[[I'm Ready (Muddy Waters album)|I'm Ready]]'' (1978) and ''[[King Bee (album)|King Bee]]'' (1981), and the live album, ''[[Muddy "Mississippi" Waters – Live]]'' (1979). The albums were critical and commercial successes, with all but ''King Bee'' winning a Grammy. ''Hard Again'' has been especially praised by critics, who have tended to describe it as his comeback album.<ref name="AM">{{AllMusic |class=album|id=r123341|tab=review|label=Review: ''Hard Again'' by Muddy Waters|first=Daniel|last=Gioffre|access-date=February 6, 2011}}</ref><ref name="RS">{{cite magazine |last=Oppenheimer |first=Dan |date=March 24, 1977 |title=Album Review: ''Hard Again'' by Muddy Waters |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |access-date=February 6, 2011 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/hard-again-19770324}}</ref>

In 1981, he was invited to perform at [[Chicago Fest]], the city's top outdoor music festival. He was joined onstage by Johnny Winter and [[Buddy Miles]], and played classics like "Mannish Boy", "Trouble No More", and "Mojo Working" to a new generation of fans. [[Shout! Factory]] made the performances available on DVD in 2009. On November 22, he performed live with three members of [[the Rolling Stones]] ([[Mick Jagger]], [[Keith Richards]] and [[Ronnie Wood]]) at the [[Checkerboard Lounge]], a blues club in [[Bronzeville, Chicago|Bronzeville]], on the [[South Side, Chicago|South Side]] of [[Chicago]], which Buddy Guy and L.C. Thurman opened in 1972.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=MH&s_site=miami&p_multi=MH&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB3647D20AFAB35&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |title=Reviving the Classic R&B Sound : Miami Herald |date=February 20, 1986 |publisher=Nl.newsbank.com |access-date=May 28, 2014}}</ref><ref>Parnell, Sean, "The New Checkerboard Lounge", ''The Chicago Bar Project''</ref> A DVD of the performance, ''[[Live at the Checkerboard Lounge, Chicago 1981]]'', was released in 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/checkerboard-lounge-live-chicago-1981-dvd-mw0002380039|title=Checkerboard Lounge: Live Chicago 1981 [DVD] – The Rolling Stones, Muddy Waters|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=January 6, 2015}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=April 2021}}

In 1982, he cut way back on performing due to declining health. His last public performance took place when he sat in with [[Eric Clapton]]'s band at a concert in Florida in the summer of 1982.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/muddy-waters/biography|title=Muddy Waters|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|access-date=January 6, 2015}}</ref>