By 1954, the father of Chicago blues, Muddy Waters, had reached the upper echelons of success. Now recording with a band that included harmonica virtuoso Little Walter Jacobs, the legendary Willie Dixon on double bass, and Jimmy Rogers on second guitar (all immense talents in their own right), Waters could do no wrong. In addition to penning much of his own material (including 1955’s “Mannish Boy”, a scathing response to Bo Diddley’s “I’m A Man”), Waters enlisted the songwriting talent of Dixon as well, who churned out one soon-to-be blues standard after another (i.e. “I’m Ready”, “I Love The Life I Live, I Live the Life I Love”, “Young Fashioned Ways”, “Close To You”, etc.). During this period Waters ruled the American R&B charts, and in 1958 he was sent to England, where his electrified blues performances had a long lasting impact on the future of British rock as well.