His family considered it normal to play music, with his father playing guitar and harmonica, his mother playing piano, and a relative who was a one-man band. At the age of three, Musselwhite moved to Memphis, Tennessee. When he was a teenager, Memphis experienced the period when rockabilly, western swing, electric blues, and some forms of African American music were combining to give birth to rock and roll. The period featured legendary figures such as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash, as well as minor legends such as Gus Cannon, Furry Lewis, Will Shade, Royal Bell, Memphis Willie B., Johnny Burnette, Red Roby, Abe McNeal, and Slim Rhodes. Musselwhite supported himself by digging ditches, laying concrete and running moonshine in a 1950 Lincoln. This environment was Musselwhite's school for music as well as life, and he acquired the nickname "Memphis Charlie."[citation needed]
In true bluesman fashion, Musselwhite then took off in search of the rumored "big-paying factory jobs" up the "Hillbilly Highway", legendary Highway 61 to Chicago, where he continued his education on the South Side, making the acquaintance of even more legends including Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, Sonny Boy Williamson, Buddy Guy, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, and Big Walter Horton. Musselwhite immersed himself completely in the musical life, living in the basement of, and occasionally working at Jazz Record Mart (the record store operated by Delmark Records founder Bob Koester) with Big Joe Williams and working as a driver for an exterminator, which allowed him to observe what was happening around the city's clubs and bars. He spent his time hanging out at the Jazz Record Mart at the corner of State and Grand and the nearby bar, Mr. Joe's, with the city's blues musicians, and sitting in with Big Joe Williams and others in the clubs, playing for tips. There he forged a lifelong friendship with John Lee Hooker; though Hooker lived in Detroit, Michigan, the two often visiting each other, and Hooker serving as best man at Musselwhite's wedding. Gradually Musselwhite became well known around town.
In time, Musselwhite led his own blues band, and, after Elektra Records' success with Paul Butterfield, he released the classic[citation needed] Stand Back! album in 1966 on Vanguard Records (as "Charley Musselwhite"), to immediate and great success. He took advantage of the clout this album gave him to move to San Francisco, where, instead of being one of many competing blues acts, he held court as the king of the blues in the exploding countercultural music scene, an exotic and gritty figure to the flower children. Musselwhite even convinced Hooker to move out to California.
Since then, Musselwhite has released over 20 albums, as well as guesting on albums by many other musicians, such as Bonnie Raitt's Longing in Their Hearts and The Blind Boys of Alabama's Spirit of the Century, both winners of Grammy awards. He also appeared on Tom Waits' Mule Variations and INXS' Suicide Blonde. He himself has won 14 W. C. Handy awards and six Grammy nominations, as well as Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Monterey Blues Festival and the San Javier Jazz Festival in San Javier, Spain, and the Mississippi Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts.
In 1979, Musselwhite recorded The Harmonica According to Charlie Musselwhite in London for Kicking Mule Records, intended to go with an instructional book; the album itself became so popular that it has been released on CD.
Unfortunately, Musselwhite, as with many of his peers, fell victim to alcoholism; by his own admission[citation needed], he had never been on stage sober until after he stopped drinking entirely in 1987.
In 1990 Musselwhite signed with Alligator Records, a step led to a resurgence of his career.
Over the years, Musselwhite has branched out in style. His 1999 recording, Continental Drifter, is accompanied by Quarteto Patria, from Cuba's Santiago region, the Cuban music analog of the Mississippi Delta. Because of the political differences between Cuba and the United States, the album was recorded in Bergen, Norway, with Musselwhite's wife ironing out all the details.
Musselwhite believes the key to his musical success was finding a style where he could express himself. He has said, "I only know one tune, and I play it faster or slower, or I change the key, but it’s just the one tune I’ve ever played in my life. It’s all I know."[1]
His past two albums, Sanctuary and Delta Hardware have both been released on Real World Records.
Rank Strangers
Charlie Musselwhite Lyrics
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Where in youths early dawn I was happy and free
I looked for my friends
But I never could find 'em
I found they were all rank strangers to me
Everybody I met seemed to be a Rank Stranger
No mother or dad, not a friend could I see
I found they were all rank strangers to me
They've all moved away, said the voice of a stranger
To a beautiful land by the bright crystal sea
Some beautiful day I will meet 'em in Heaven
Where no one will be a stranger to me
Everybody I met seemed to be a Rank Stranger
No mother or dad, not a friend could I see
They knew not my name and I knew not their faces
I found they were all rank strangers to me
The lyrics of Charlie Musselwhite's song "Rank Strangers" evoke a sense of nostalgia, loneliness, and a yearning for connection. The singer reflects on a time in the past when they were happy and carefree, surrounded by friends and loved ones. However, upon returning to that place, they find that everyone they once knew has become "rank strangers" to them. This feeling of alienation and disconnection is palpable throughout the song.
The repeated mention of everyone being a "rank stranger" highlights the profound sense of isolation experienced by the singer. Despite seeking out familiar faces and trying to reconnect with the past, they are met with a wall of unfamiliarity and separation. The absence of recognition and familiarity reinforces the theme of estrangement and the passage of time eroding relationships.
The lyrics suggest a poignant realization that people change, move on, and drift apart over time. The voice of a stranger conveys the news that everyone has moved away to a distant and idyllic place, leaving the singer feeling even more adrift and displaced. The reference to a "beautiful land by the bright crystal sea" symbolizes a paradise beyond reach, where reunion and recognition may finally take place.
The song concludes with a hopeful note of reunion in heaven, where the barriers of being strangers will no longer exist. This longing for a place where everyone is known and connected underscores the universal human desire for belonging and a sense of community. The bittersweet undertones of the lyrics capture the inevitable changes in relationships and the transient nature of connections, while also hinting at the possibility of ultimate reunion and understanding in a spiritual realm.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Capitol CMG Publishing
Written by: Albert E. Brumley Sr.
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind