Hoochie Coochie Man? Sec of State Anthony Blinken Covers Muddy Waters At State Department Event

While Republican presidential candidate also-rans were vying for the love and attention of GOP primary voters, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was covering Muddy Waters’ Hoochie Coochie Man.

Yes, that really happened, and the evidence of his performance was tweeted out by the nation’s top diplomat himself, perhaps because he’s surrounded by sycophants afraid to confront the Secretary of State when he has a bad idea. Or, in this case, a terrible idea.

Blinken picked up the guitar at a State Dept. event that launched the “Global Music Diplomacy Initiative,” which Billboard describes:

The Global Music Diplomacy Initiative builds on the bipartisan PEACE Through Music Diplomacy Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law last year. It will augment current U.S. efforts that consist of various public diplomacy exchange programs using music as a diplomatic tool, including American Music Abroad, Arts Envoy, Center Stage, Next Level and OneBeat.

Blinken capably played rhythm guitar on the blues classic, which, quite candidly, is about as easy a thing to do for any guitarist familiar with the old 1-4-5 chord progression. But Blinken’s world-class diplomatic skills do not translate to musical performance as he appeared awkward on stage before singing.

His voice, however, was the highlight. Sort of a Chris Isaak-inspired falsetto tenor that was a far cry from Muddy Waters but worked remarkably well.

Look, there are a lot of middle-aged dudes who pick up the guitar as some way to assuage their mid-life crisis realization that they never became rock stars. Just look at the background of pundits zooming in to provide hot takes on cable news: the propped-up guitar is a bit of a cliche.

But just because you play the guitar doesn’t mean you need to show it off to anyone unless you are some sort of virtuoso, which Sec. Blinken is not.

Watch above via Sec. of State Blinken’s X account.