WHEN KEN MET MUDDY: THE GENESIS
OF SOUNDSTAGE

Electric-blues avatar Muddy Waters, a number of his contemporaries and a posse of inheritors mixed it up in live performance 41 years ago for a TV show conceived and produced by then-young pup Ken Ehrlich. Soundstage: Blues Summit in Chicago, coming from Legacy on April 21, marks the first time this historic 1974 episode has been released on DVD.

Ehrlich’s Muddy tribute turned out to be the initial iteration of the groundbreaking PBS series Soundstage, which the music-TV innovator produced for half a decade.

“This first edition of our Soundstage series definitely stands the test of time,” said Ehrlich for the record. “The same greatness that these blues legends like Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Junior Wells and Koko Taylor showed in this iconic gathering of blues greats continues to influence current generations of blues players and fans. The only difference is that now, 40 years later, the other artists on the show, like Johnny Winter, Mike Bloomfield, Dr. John and Buddy Miles, have now achieved similar legendary status as those first generation blues artists they came to honor back in 1974.”