How Many More Years formed his own band in West Memphis, Arkansas, in 1948, billing himself as "The Howlin' Wolf". He began broadcasting on radio station KWEM in West Memphis, and was heard by Sam Phillips who signed him for Memphis Recording Service. He recorded "How Many More Years" at the MRS studio at 706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee, in or about July 1951, singing and playing harmonica with a band comprising (probably) Ike Turner (piano), Willie Johnson (guitar), and Willie Steele (drums). The repetitious bass-string boogie line resembles the one played in the traditional blues standard "Forty-Four". The record's original A-side, "Moanin' at
Petals of Blood flourishes and are contrasted strongly with the village of Ilmorog. In its pursuit for the modern, Kenya adopts capitalism at the expense of tradition as the city begins 'to encroach upon and finally swallow the traditional and the rural.' As time progresses, Ilmorog changes vastly, as do its inhabitants. With its modernization, influenced greatly by capitalism and the chance to increase trade, Munira reflects on these changes and how they link with capitalism, saying that 'it was New Kenya. It was New Ilmorog. Nothing was free.' Agriculture is an important theme in "Petals of Blood", most notably in the town