Folk Singer

Chess wanted a new studio album after Newport, and since folk music was then popular the label chose the title and made a more acoustic record with two acoustic guitarists. It was recorded in September 1963 at Ter Mar Recording Studios in Chicago and produced by Willie Dixon. Waters played acoustic guitar with Dixon on string bass, Clifton James on drums and Buddy Guy on a second acoustic guitar. Guy, who had already recorded with Waters, played on every original song except the last, Feel Like Going Home. The original LP held nine songs, most of them at a slower tempo than his earlier records, apart from the uptempo Good Morning Little Schoolgirl.

A tour of Europe, the second American Folk Blues Festival, began a month after the sessions. In London Waters opened with My Captain and Rollin' Stone, followed by quiet versions of other songs.

The album did not chart in any country but was well reviewed. DownBeat in 1964 found his singing forced and artificial, while Rolling Stone, reviewing the 1993 CD, called it a wonderfully intimate session. In 2003 Rolling Stone placed it at number 280 on its 500 greatest albums, writing that the unplugged playing was pioneering.