The Story Behind Muddy Waters’ and Mick Jagger’s Jam

Emma Duckett

•February 12, 2025•

3 min read

22 November 1981 at the Checkerboard Lounge in Chicago’s South Side, legendary bluesman Muddy Waters performed a secret, guest-only set when The Rolling Stones made an impromptu appearance alongside him.

But what really happened the one-night Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, and pianist Ian Stewart grooved with Waters?

While in town for a three-night stint at the Rosemont Horizon (now Allstate Arena), the rock and roll foursome decided to swing by the venue to honour their hero. The Stones’ admiration for Muddy never sprang out of the blue - in fact, they named the band after his track ‘Rollin’ Stone’ (1950).

The evening started with Waters playing several songs with his band before inviting Jagger (amongst the crowd, head-to-toe in a red jumpsuit) to join him during ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’.

Richards (carrying a fifth of whiskey) and Wood followed, belting out blues classics such as ‘Hoochie Coochie Man’, ‘Long Distance Call’, and ‘Mannish Boy’, finishing the set with a rendition of ‘Champagne & Reefer’.

Waters also called up fellow blues legends Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, and Lefty Dizz, adding their hot-fingered solos and lively vocals to the already-swinging stage. In a Far Out Magazine article, Richards explains how it felt to rub shoulders with one of the greats:

“You want to be a blues player, the next minute you f****** well are, and you’re stuck right amongst them, and there’s Muddy Waters standing next to you. It happens so fast you can’t register all the impressions coming at you… It’s one thing to play a Muddy Waters song. It’s another thing to play with him.”

The surprise event was reportingly pre-arranged, being kept under wraps from fans right up to the performance. “Once word got out, thousands of people turned up outside – The Stones’ didn’t want more than 75 people in the venue”, L.C. Thurman remembers in a TimeOut interview.

And the Checkboard Lounge?

Initially established by Buddy Guy and L.C. Thurman on 43rd Street in 1972, The Checkerboard Lounge emerged as a hole-in-the-wall blues bar in a culturally rich Chicago. It welcomed artists such as Chuck Berry, Eric Clapton, Magic Slim, and Stevie Ray Vaughan to perform historic sets in a brick-walled, intimate space.

The club moved to 5201 S. Harper Court in Hyde Park in 2003 before closing its doors after L.C. Thurman died in 2015.

Looking for footage of the entire night?

You're in luck. Muddy Waters and The Rolling Stones’ ‘Live at the Checkerboard Lounge’ is available to stream through On Air with unlimited replays.

Recorded by David Hewitt on the Record Plant Black Truck, here’s a snippet of how the now-iconic concert unfolded.