Blue Notes: 'Cotton Mouth Man' by James Cotton

In the words of Brownie McGhee and Muddy Waters, .

The errant child has had a few moments of filial gratitude, the latest expression being a guest-star-studded album from 77-year-old-blues harmonica ace and former Waters sideman James Cotton.

On , Cotton is accompanied by members past and present of the Allman Brothers Band, guitarist Joe Bonamassa, and featured vocalists Keb Mo', Delbert McClinton and Ruthie Foster.

There is a history of albums on which blues rockers, such as the Allmans, have collaborated with some of the older straight-ahead blues musicians without whose music they probably would not have had their careers. In the 1960s, those collaborations generally took place because the younger players craved the credibility an association with major blues figures could confer - and because they wanted the experience of sharing the same studio space.

A good example is Fleetwood Mac's 1969 album , for which the band, then led by Peter Green - considered the finest British blues guitarist of his generation by iconic guitarist B.B. King - recorded at the famed Chess studio in Chicago with an all-star cast of blues giants, including Willie Dixon, Otis Spann and Buddy Guy.

However, in the 1970s the nature of these collaborations changed. The blues rockers/blues fans had become rock stars, and their names moved serious quantities of product. Sessions were set up on which the rock aristocrats backed their blues heroes, with the intention of selling the progenitors of the music to the rock audience.

The pioneering project was 1970's featuring Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman, followed in 1972 by , featuring Winwood again, along with Rory Gallagher, Georgie Fame and Mitch Mitchell.