This lively tribute album featuring some of the great bluesman’s surviving comrades sits awkwardly on the disputed date of his birth.

Records show that McKinley Morganfield was born in 1913, but Muddy Waters (his stage name) always claimed it was 1915.

Robert Gordon’s insightful essay in the handsome accompanying booklet refers to this discrepancy and, more pertinently, to Muddy’s importance, citing Keith Richards: “When I got to hear Muddy Waters, it all fell into place for me.”

Muddy’s music, traditional country blues welded onto the amplified industrial muscle of Chicago, still exudes a raw, defiant power.

These versions feature the likes of Johnny Winter, James Cotton and Derek Trucks, with Muddy’s friend John Primer handling vocals. It’s good without ever threatening the authority of the original.