Muddy Waters: Authenticity In The Music Industry

“Authenticity” in music has been a widely debated topic within society. Many argue that authenticity is a necessary component in music, while others believe that it is an imaginary construct that distorts the genre. What is not argued is how “authenticity” can be a necessary component of music while distorting the genre. In this paper, I will compare Bessie Smith to the artist Muddy Waters to assess “authenticity” in the music industry regarding the distortion of genres.

Authenticity, to me, is how an artist expresses themselves in their work. It is how they put a twist on a song that may not belong to them, and make it unique. An artist can be authentic in a genre that is not their own or in a song that is not their own, as long as they

Although Muddy Waters participated in many of the trends surrounding the blues, he made the blues authentically his. “Muddy Waters, for his part, testified to the presence of the electric guitar on the Chicago scene: “I started playing amplified guitar when I came to Chicago, Everybody else was playing them and I had to get something to go with that too"" (Waksman 122). Even though Muddy Waters can be considered “inauthentic” because a substantial amount of his musical career was based on what other artists around him were doing, he gained authenticity when he applied these technological innovations, like the electric guitar, to a genre that didn’t have them, like the blues. Consequently, Waters, like Smith, was a genre-bending artist. His innovations paved the way for the Chicago

Although the song is not originally his, the way in which he interpreted the song made it his own. By adding the electric guitar, he made it his own. Since it is his interpretation, it is his authentic song. The same can be said about the song “Got My Mojo Working”. This song has been recorded by numerous artists. However, Muddy Waters made it his own. He did this not only by changing the lyrics or adding the electric guitar to the track but also by adding himself to it. That is what makes the songs “authentically” his, despite the songs not actually being