Jerry Portnoy – Review: Dancing with Muddy: Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton and My Lucyk Life In and Out of the Blues

I’ve been lucky enough to meet a lot of interesting, talented and thoughtful people. Jerry Portnoy is one that I call a friend. He just published his memoir and it’s a good one. Jerry was Muddy Waters’ harmonica player for 6 years and then played in Eric Clapton’s band from 1991 – 1996. He’s played with the biggest names in the blues: Johnny Young, Johnny Littlejohn, Willie Dixon, Big Walter Horton, Bill Wyman, Bo Diddley, John Brim amongst others. Sonny Terry gave him harmonica lessons as did Big Walter. Hell, Bob Dylan asked him to join the Rolling Thunder Revue – he declined in favor of keeping his job with Muddy Waters.

When I was a nightclub manager, in fact, the 2^nd night I was a nightclub manager, I met Jerry by booking the Legendary Blues Band to play at the Blue Wall at UMass Amherst. They were Muddy Waters’ band for 6 years before setting out on their own. They didn’t sell out the place (if I remember right, its capacity was about 600) but there was a big crowd. The blues still attracted a great audience in 1982. That is the first time that I met Jerry. I went on to write half of my Master’s Thesis on Jerry. The other half was on Archie Shepp. As a former nightclub manager, I was fascinated by how jazz and blues musicians made, or didn’t make, a living. That led me to study anthropology. So, the economics of the industry captivated me for a decade of research as a graduate student and Jerry was central to that.

The first concert I attended (that required a ticket anyway) was Muddy Waters and His Legendary Blues Band. That concert was at the ice arena in Beverly, Massachusetts on June 6, 1975. Jerry was in the band then and it was a great place to start my concert career, if I do say so myself. I later saw Muddy open for Eric Clapton. That concert in Providence, Rhode Island was on April 28, 1979. Jerry was still in the band then. So, I actually saw him play twice before I met him.

Jerry was born in Chicago and ironically ended up living in Massachusetts for the last 45 years or so. I was born in Massachusetts but have been in Chicago for the last 25 years. I haven’t had a lot of contact with Jerry over the last 25 years but every now and then we still talk, mostly by email. I wish it was more.

Jerry Portnoy’s Dancing with Muddy is a true to life accounting of his career in the blues and a life well lived. The stories about Muddy and Eric Clapton are fascinating backstage looks at two of the great musicians of our time, but it’s the chapters on the Legendary Blues Band and Jerry Portnoy and the Streamliners that I think are the most valuable. They brought back memories for me because I was there to witness some of that time. I was booking bands at club at UMass Amherst in 1982s when I first met Jerry and brought the Legendary Blues Band into the Blue Wall. The music, of course, was fantastic but I most cherished the time I spent in the dressing room meeting the band. Particularly stuck in my memory was sitting next to Pinetop Perkins and his girlfriend and talking about the blues. I had read a quote from Pinetop about the popularity of the blues that said something to the effect of, the blues may go down and then go up, but it will never go away. I shared it with him as it struck me that I was talking to an important figure in the history of the music and an important part of America – African American culture. Some years later Jerry asked me to introduce the Muddy Waters Tribute Band at a concert, and I talked about the incredible chunk of blues history that was on the stage that night.

About a year after my first encounter with Jerry I was managing a club for Syracuse University and advising the concert board. We brought in the Legendary Blues Band for the spring concert that year. When the band arrived Jerry sheepishly told me that Pinetop was no longer with the band for much the reason he relates in the book. He was just getting older. Of course, the band was still fantastic. How could that group not be! All of this and so much more is related in the book. I also got to spend some time with the Streamliners traveling to gigs in their truck. Their life was not a glamourous one, but the music was worth the struggle.

The lasting value of the book, however, may lie in the frank discussions about the economics of the blues. Jerry discusses his salary with the Muddy Waters band and his other endeavors. This includes the fact that becoming a member of Eric Clapton’s band for several years rescued his family from severe financial difficulties. It’s ironic that becoming a member of the Muddy Waters band put him at the pinnacle of the blues world but that there was no equivalent financial reward. It took the English rock musician exploring his love for the blues to bring the financial reward.

Finally, this is a really well written book that is hard to put down. I read it in two days. There are a thousand reasons to read it. So, just read it!

Dr. Scott Cashman

June 23, 2025