Muddy Waters on The Blues and Gospel Train

One of the most unique con­certs from the British blues revival of the 1960s was the “Blues and Gospel Train,” filmed May 7, 1964 by Grana­da TV for the BBC. Fans who were lucky enough to get tickets–some 200 of them–were instruct­ed to gath­er at Man­ches­ter’s Cen­tral Sta­tion by 7:30 that evening for a short train ride to the aban­doned Wilbra­ham Road Sta­tion. When the train pulled in at Wilbra­ham Road, the audi­ence poured out and found seats on one plat­form. The oppo­site side, dec­o­rat­ed to look like an old rail­way sta­tion in the Amer­i­can South, served as a stage for Mud­dy Waters, Otis Spann, Sis­ter Roset­ta Tharpe, Son­ny Ter­ry, Brown­ie McGhee, Cousin Joe and Rev­erend Gary Davis. The per­for­mances are avail­able on DVD as part of Amer­i­can Folk-Blues Fes­ti­val: The British Tours 1963–1966. In the scene above, Mud­dy Waters sings, “You Can’t Lose What You Ain’t Nev­er Had.”

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Relat­ed Con­tent:

The Leg­end of Blues­man Robert John­son Ani­mat­ed