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| Dick Waterman | |
|---|---|
| Name | Dick Waterman |
| Birth date | 1935 |
| Birth place | New York City |
| Occupation | Talent manager, promoter, photographer, writer |
| Years active | 1950s–present |
| Known for | Blues promotion, rediscovery of Son House, Mississippi John Hurt |
Dick Waterman is an American talent manager, promoter, photographer, and writer known for his central role in the mid-20th century blues revival and for rediscovering and managing important Delta and country blues artists. Over several decades he organized concerts, managed tours, produced promotional materials, documented blues musicians through photography and text, and advocated for artist recognition and compensation. His work connected the traditions of Delta blues, Chicago blues, and the folk revival to audiences across the United States and Europe.
Waterman was born in New York City in 1935 and grew up during the era of the Great Depression and the cultural shifts of World War II. He was exposed to recordings and radio broadcasts that featured artists associated with Memphis blues, Piedmont blues, and Delta blues, which influenced his formative interests. Waterman studied in the milieu of postwar New York folk clubs and venues such as Greenwich Village, where figures like Pete Seeger, Alan Lomax, and Joan Baez were prominent, and he engaged with the networks that included presenters from Carnegie Hall and regional folk festivals.
Waterman began promoting shows in the late 1950s and 1960s, organizing performances that connected artists from the rural South to urban stages in New York City, the Cambridge Folk Festival, and concert series at institutions like The Town Hall (New York City). He worked with booking agents, record labels, and festival organizers connected to Columbia Records, Arhoolie Records, and Vanguard Records to arrange tours and recordings. His managerial activities interfaced with producers and promoters such as John Hammond, Moses Asch, and festival directors associated with the Newport Folk Festival and the Cambridge Folk Festival. Waterman navigated relationships with venues, agents, and media outlets including Rolling Stone, DownBeat, and public broadcasters to increase visibility for blues artists.
Waterman played an active role in the 1960s blues revival by locating, promoting, and managing overlooked performers. He is particularly noted for his involvement in the rediscovery of artists linked to the histories of Son House, Mississippi John Hurt, Robert Johnson, Skip James, and contemporaries from the Mississippi Delta and North Mississippi Hill Country. Through field contacts, archival research, and networked inquiries that touched folklorists and collectors such as Alan Lomax, Sam Charters, and Nick Perls, Waterman helped bring performers to festivals, club circuits, and recording sessions. He arranged tours that connected blues artists with audiences in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and major U.S. cultural centers, situating them alongside performers from the folk revival like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and blues interpreters such as Eric Clapton and Mick Jagger who had helped broaden mainstream interest.
In addition to management and promotion, Waterman produced written accounts, liner notes, and published photographs documenting performances, studio sessions, and artist biographies, contributing material used by historians and journalists working on the legacies of John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and other seminal figures. His photography archives include images used in retrospectives, exhibition catalogs, and liner notes for reissue programs by labels like Chess Records reissue projects and independent blues reissue labels. Waterman also advocated on behalf of musicians for fair contracts, royalty arrangements, and pension efforts that involved stakeholders such as performing rights organizations and cultural institutions like the Smithsonian Institution. He collaborated with documentary filmmakers, music journalists, and academic researchers who study African American musical traditions and the commercial trajectories of roots music.
Waterman's personal life intersected with his professional commitments in ways that shaped the blues revival narrative; he maintained long-term relationships with many artists and with figures in the folk and blues communities in New York City, the American South, and Europe. His legacy is reflected in the renewed careers of rediscovered musicians, the preservation of photographic and written documentation, and ongoing conversations about cultural stewardship and artist rights involving institutions such as Library of Congress collections and university archives. Waterman is often cited in oral histories, music histories, and liner notes that chart the transmission of blues traditions from artists like Blind Lemon Jefferson and Big Bill Broonzy through mid-century revivalists to contemporary musicians influenced by those lineages.
Category:American music managers Category:Blues scholars