Muddy Waters - Rollin' Stone/Walkin' Blues

7-inch vinyl

Jack White's Third Man Records is reviving some old blues classics, reissuing staples from the Chess Records catalog in partnership with Universal Records. This endeavor will be the third label-based 7" reissue series that Third Man is embarking on, following Sun Records and Tamla Records pressings.

First up is Chicago blues icon Muddy Waters, whose signature first hit on Chess "Rollin' Stone" b/w "Walkin' Blues," originally released in 1950, was reissued, along with "She's All Right" b/w "Sad, Sad Day" and "Mannish Boy" b/w "Young Fashioned Ways," released in 1953 and 1955, respectively.

Originally released as a 78rpm 10" shellac in 1950, this now-legendary Chicago blues A-side — "Rollin' Stone" — changed the course of Western Music. This one song's influence has been felt all over the world, not to mention its place as the early, primary inspiration for Mick Jagger and company to launch as The Rolling Stones. Anything that made the Stones engage an entire generation of young people can ultimately be traced back to Muddy Waters and this song is ground zero for the rock-n-roll that blew everyone's minds. "Walkin' Blues," the B-side, is a standard 12-bar blues song that kicks off with 4 high-pitched staccato strums of the guitar and riffs on the everyday struggle of getting yourself to walk out the door one more time in the morning. This one's straightforward, stirring and maybe even more relatable in the 21st century.

"With recordings this iconic, the Third Man Records pressings are not the first time these songs have been given new life, but we are the only label to reissue them as 7" singles, a label priority we are proud of," the label stated.