Electric Mud is the fifth studio album by Muddy Waters, with members of Rotary Connection playing as his backing band.

"[3] Chess hoped the new albums would sell well among fans of psychedelic rock bands influenced by Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf.

"[5] To provide the psychedelic sound Chess sought for the album, he assembled "the hottest, most avant garde jazz rock guys in Chicago":[3] Gene Barge, Pete Cosey, Roland Faulkner, Morris Jennings, Louis Satterfield, Charles Stepney and Phil Upchurch.

[7] According to Marshall Chess, "It was never an attempt to make Muddy Waters a psychedelic artist; it was a concept album like David Bowie being Ziggy Stardust.

"[5] "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man" incorporates free jazz influences, with Gene Barge performing a concert harp.

[5] Muddy Waters performs the vocals of "Let's Spend the Night Together", a cover of the Rolling Stones' 1967 single, in gospel-soul style with heavy influence from Cream's “Sunshine of Your Love.”[5] The track "She's All Right" interpolates The Temptations' "My Girl".

If you've got to have big amplifiers and wah-wahs and equipment to make you guitar say different things, well, hell, you can't play no blues.

"[5] The title of the album did not refer to the use of electric guitar, as Muddy Waters had played the instrument since he first signed with Chess Records.

[5] Electric Mud was released in 1968 with a simple black and white cover that did not make it obvious that the music on the album was psychedelic.

[5] In a Rolling Stone feature, Pete Welding wrote, "'Electric Mud' does great disservice to one of the blues' most important innovators, and prostitutes the contemporary styles to which his pioneering efforts have led.

[12] However, the album has attracted new admirers among the hip hop scene;[1] in Lost in the Grooves: Scram's Capricious Guide to the Music You Missed, Gene Sculatti wrote that "The rhythm seems to anticipate hip-hop by three decades.

"[1] Chuck D stated that he had been introduced to Electric Mud by a member of Public Enemy, which sparked an interest in Muddy Waters' earlier work, and in roots-oriented blues.

"[1] The documentary series The Blues, produced by Martin Scorsese, depicts the recording band for Electric Mud performing with Chuck D and members of The Roots.