Sonny Boy Williamson



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JANICE'S BLUES ALLEY PRESENTS

Sonny Boy Williamson



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Sonny Boy Williamson



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Sonny Boy's Lonesome CabinSonny Boy's Lonesome Cabin


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Sonny Boy Williamson was, in many ways, the ultimate blues legend. By the time of his death in 1965, In Helena, AR, he had been around long enough to have played with Robert Johnson at the start of his career and Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Robbie Robertson at the end of it. In between, he drank a lot of whiskey, hoboed around the country, had a successful radio show for 15 years, toured Europe to great acclaim and simply wrote, played and sang some of the greatest blues ever etched into black phonograph records. His delivery was sly, evil and world-weary, while his harp-playing was full of short, rhythmic bursts one minute and powerful, impassioned blowing the next. His songs were chock-full of mordant wit, with largely autobiographical lyrics that hold up to the scrutiny of the printed page. Though he took his namesake from another well-known harmonica player, no one really sounded like him.

A moody, bitter, and suspicious man, no one wove such a confusing web of misinformation as Sonny Boy Williamson II. Even his birth date (stated as December 5, 1899 in most reference books, but some sources claim his birth may have been in either 1897 or 1909) and real name (Aleck or Alex or Willie "Rice" � which may or may not be a nickname � Miller or Ford) cannot be verified with absolute certainty. Of his childhood days in Mississippi, absolutely nothing is known. What is known is that by the mid-'30s, he was traveling the Delta working under the alias of Little Boy Blue. With blues legends like Robert Johnson, Robert Nighthawk, Robert Jr. Lockwood, and Elmore James as interchangeable playing partners, he worked the juke joints, fish fries, country suppers and ballgames of the era. By the early '40s, he was the star of KFFA's King Biscuit Time, the first live blues radio show to hit the American airwaves. As one of the major ruses to occur in blues history, his sponsor � the Interstate Grocery Company � felt they could push more sacks of their King Biscuit Flour with Miller posing as Chicago harmonica star John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson. In today's everybody-knows-everything video age, it's hard to think that such an idea would work, much less prosper. After all, the real Sonny Boy was a national recording star, and Miller's vocal and harmonica style was in no way derivative of him. But Williamson had no desire to tour in the South, so prosper it did, and when John Lee was murdered in Chicago, Miller became � in his own words � "the original Sonny Boy." Among his fellow musicians, he was usually still referred to as Rice Miller, but to the rest of the world he did, indeed, become the Sonny Boy Williamson.

The show was an immediate hit, prompting IGC to introduce Sonny Boy Corn Meal, complete with a likeness of Williamson on the front of the package. With all this local success, however, Sonny Boy was not particularly anxious to record. Though he often claimed in his twilight years that he had recorded in the '30s, no evidence of that appears to have existed. Lillian McMurray, the owner of Trumpet Records in Jackson, MS, had literally tracked him down to a boarding house in nearby Belzoni and enticed him to record for her. The music Sonny Boy made for her between 1951 to 1954 show him in peak form, his vocal, instrumental, and songwriting skills honed to perfection. Williamson struck paydirt on his first Trumpet release, "Eyesight to the Blind" and though the later production on his Chess records would make the Trumpet sides seem woefully under-recorded by comparison, they nonetheless stand today as classic performances, capturing juke joint blues in one of its finest hours.

Another major contribution to the history of the blues occurred when Sonny Boy brought King Biscuit Time guest star Elmore James into the studio for a session. With Williamson blowing harp, a drummer keeping time, and the tape machine running surreptitiously, Elmore recorded the first version of what would become his signature tune, Robert Johnson's "Dust My Broom." By this time Sonny Boy had divorced his first wife (who also happened to be Howlin' Wolf's sister) and married Mattie Gordon. This would prove to be the longest and most enduring relationship of his life outside of music, with Mattie putting up with the man's rambling ways, and living a life of general rootlessness in the bargain. On two different occasions Sonny Boy moved to Detroit, taking up residence in the Baby Boy Warren band for brief periods, and contributed earth-shattering solos on Warren sides for Blue Lake and Excello in 1954.

By early 1955, after leasing a single to Johnny Vincent's Ace label, McMurray had sold Williamson's contract to Buster Williams in Memphis, who in turn sold it to Leonard Chess in Chicago. All the pieces were finally tumbling into place, and Sonny Boy finally had a reason to take up permanent residence north of the Mason-Dixon line; he now was officially a Chess recording artist. His first session for Chess took place on August 12, 1955, and the single pulled from it, "Don't Start Me to Talkin'," started doing brisk business on the R&B charts. By his second session for the label, he was reunited with longtime musical partner Robert Jr. Lockwood. Lockwood � who had been one of the original King Biscuit Boys � had become de facto house guitarist for Chess, as well as moonlighting for other Chicago labels. With Lockwood's combination of Robert Johnson rhythms and jazz chord embellishments, Williamson's harp and parched vocals sounded fresher than ever and Lockwood's contributions to the success of Sonny Boy's Chess recordings cannot be overestimated.

For a national recording artist, Williamson had a remarkable penchant for pulling a disappearing act for months at a time. Sometimes, when Chicago bookings got too lean, he would head back to Arkansas, fronting the King Biscuit radio show for brief periods. But in 1963 he was headed to Europe for the first time, as part of the American Folk Blues Festival. The folk music boom was in full swing and Europeans were bringing over blues artists, both in and past their prime, to face wildly appreciative white audiences for the first time. Sonny Boy unleashed his bag of tricks and stole the show every night. He loved Europe and stayed behind in Britain when the tour headed home. He started working the teenage beat club circuit, touring and recording with the Yardbirds and Eric Burdon's band, whom he always referred to as "de Mammimals." On the folk-blues tours, Sonny Boy would be very dignified and laid-back. But in the beat club setting, with young, white bands playing on eleven behind him, he'd pull out every juke joint trick he used with the King Biscuit Boys and drive the kids nuts. "Help Me" became a surprise hit in Britain and across Europe. Then in his mid-'60s (or possibly older), Williamson was truly appreciative of all the attention, and contemplated moving to Europe permanently. But after getting a harlequin, two-tone, city gentleman's suit (complete with bowler hat, rolled umbrella and attach� case full of harmonicas) made up for himself, he headed back to the States � and the Chess studios � for some final sessions. When he returned to England in 1964, it was as a conquering hero. One of his final recordings, with Jimmy Page on guitar, was entitled "I'm Trying to Make London My Home."

In 1965, he headed home, back to Mississippi one last time, and took over the King Biscuit show again. Still wearing his custom-made suit, he regaled the locals with stories of his travels across Europe. Some were impressed, others who had known him for years felt he could have just as well substituted the name "Mars" for Europe in explaining his exploits, so used were they to Sonny Boy's tall tales. But after hoboing his way around the United States for thirty-odd years, and playing to appreciative audiences throughout Europe, Sonny Boy had a perfectly good reason for returning to the Delta; he had come home to die. He would enlist the help of old friends like Houston Stackhouse and Peck Curtis to take him around to all the back-road spots he had seen as a boy, sometimes paying his respects to old friends, other days just whiling away an afternoon on the banks of a river fishing.

When Ronnie Hawkins' ex-bandmates, the Hawks, were playing in the area, they made a special point of seeking out Sonny Boy and spent an entire evening backing him up in a juke joint. All through the night, Williamson kept spitting into a coffee can beside him. When Robbie Robertson got up to leave the bandstand during a break, he noticed the can was filled with blood. On May 25, 1965, Curtis and Stackhouse were waiting at the KFFA studios for Sonny Boy to do the daily King Biscuit broadcast. When Williamson didn't show, Curtis left the station and headed to the rooming house where Sonny Boy was staying, only to find him lying in bed, dead of an apparent heart attack. He was buried in the Whitfield Cemetery in Tutwiler, MS, and his funeral was well-attended. As Houston Stackhouse said, "He was well thought of through that country." He was elected to the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1980.

-- Cub Koda of All Music Guide.
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LINKSYEARTITLE
1959 Down And Out Blues
1963 Sonny Boy Williamson And Memphis Slim In Paris
1964 Help Me
1965 In Memorium
1966 Don�t Send Me No Flowers
1966 The Blues Of Sonny Boy Williamson
1967 More Real Folk Blues
1968 Live In London With Eric Clapton
1968 Sonny Boy Williamson And The Yardbirds
1969 Songs From King Biscuit Time
1976 Sonny Boy Williamson
1981 One Way Out
1989 Clowning With The World w/ Willie Love
1993 The Essential Sonny Boy Williamson
1997 His Best
1999 Nine Below Zero


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1959 Down And Out Blues

01. Don't Start Me To Talking
02. I Don't Know
03. All My Love In Vain
04. The Key (to your door)
05. Keep It To Yourself
06. Dissatisfied
07. Fattening Frogs For Snakes
08. Wake Up Baby
09. Your Funeral And My Trial
10. Ninety Nine
11. Cross My Broken Heart
12. Let Me Explain


1963 Sonny Boy Williamson And Memphis Slim In Paris

01. The Skies Are Crying
02. Your Funeral And My Trial
03. Explain Yourself To Me
04. Nine Below Zero
05. Fattening Frogs For Snakes
06. My One Room Cabin
07. Getting Out Of Town



1964 Help Me



1965 In Memorium

01. Don't Start Me To Talking
02. I Don't Know
03. All My Love In Vain
04. The Key (to your door)
05. Keep It To Yourself
06. Dissatisfied
07. Fattening Frogs For Snakes
08. Wake Up Baby
09. Your Funeral And My Trial
10. Ninety Nine
11. Cross My Heart
12. Let Me Explain
13. One Way Out
14. Too Young To Die
15. Trust My Baby
16. Checking Up On My Baby
17. Sad To Be Alone
18. Got To Move
19. Bring It On Home
20. Down Child
21. Peach Tree
22. Dissatisfied
23. That's All I Want
24. Too Old To Think


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1966 Don't Send Me No Flowers

1966 The Blues Of Sonny Boy Williamson

01. Eyesight To The Blind
02. Crazy About You Baby
03. Cool Cool Blues
04. Do It If You Wanta
05. Stop Crying
06. Come On Back Home
07. West Memphis Blues
08. Pontiac Blues
09. Nine Below Zero
10. Mighty Long Time
11. Mr. Down Child
12. Stop Now Baby
13. She Brought Life Back To The Dead
14. Sonny's Rhythm
15. City Of New Orleans
16. Red Hot Kisses
17. Going In Your Direction
18. Empty Bedroom
19. Shucking Mama
20. I Ain't Begging Nobody
21. No Nights By Myself
22. From The Bottom
23. Don't Start Me To Talking
24. All My Love In Vain
25. Good Evening Everybody
26. You Killing Me (on my feet)
27. Your Imagination
28. Let Me Explain
29. I Wonder Why
30. I Know What Love Is All About
31. The Key (to your door)
32. Keep It To Yourself
33. Please Forgive
34. Have You Ever Been In Love
35. Hurts Me So Much
36. I Don't Know
37. Fattening Frogs For Snakes
38. The Wolf
39. This Is My Apartment
40. Born Blind
41. Cross My Heart
42. Ninety Nine
43. Dissatisfied
44. Unseen Eye


1967 More Real Folk Blues

01. Help Me
02. Bye Bye Bird
03. Nine Below Zero
04. The Hunt
05. Stop Right Now
06. She's My Baby
07. The Goat
08. Decoration Day
09. Trying To Get Back On My Feet
10. My Younger Days
11. Close To Me
12. Somebody Help Me


1968 Live In London With Eric Clapton



1968 Sonny Boy Williamson And The Yardbirds

01. Bye Bye Bird
02. Mr. Downchild
03. 23 Hours Too Long
04. Out Of The Water Coast
05. Baby Don't Worry
06. Pontiac Blues
07. Take It Easy Baby (version 1)
08. I Don't Care No More
09. Do The Weston
10. The River Rhine
11. A Lost Care
12. Western Arizona
13. Take It Easy Baby (version 2)
14. Slow Walk
15. Highway 69
16. Hey Little Cabin


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1969 Songs From King Biscuit Time

01. Do It If You Wanna
02. Cool Cool Blues
03. Come On Back Home
04. Stop Crying
05. Eyesight To The Blind
06. West Memphis Blues
07. I Cross My Heart
08. Crazy About You Baby
09. Nine Below Zero
10. Mighty Long Time
11. She Brought Life Back To The Dead
12. Stop Now Baby
13. Mr. Downchild
14. Sonny Boy's Christmas Blues
15. Pontiac Blues
16. Too Close Together
17. V-8 Ford
18. Stormy Monday
19. Right Now
20. Come Go With Me
21. Dust My Broom



1976 Sonny Boy Williamson

01. One Way Out
02. Don't Lose Your Eye
03. Keep It To Yourself
04. Sad To Be Alone
05. Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide
06. I Wonder Why
07. I Never Do Wrong
08. I Don't Know
09. Don't Start Me To Talking
10. Bring It On Home
11. Key To Your Door
12. Cross My Heart
13. Let Me Explain
14. Stop Crying
15. All My Love In Vain
16. Help Me
17. Nine Below Zero
18. Got To Move
19. She Got Next To Me
20. Born Blind
21. I Can't Be Alone
22. Keep Your Hand Out Of My Pocket
23. Too Close Together
24. Understand My Life
25. Like Wolf
26. Ninety Nine
27. Santa Claus
28. Your Imagination


1981 One Way Out

01. Born Blind
02. Work With Me
03. You Killing Me
04. Keep It To Yourself
05. Don't Lose Your Eye
06. Good Evening Everybody
07. Too Close Together
08. Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide
09. I Wonder Why
10. This Is My Apartment
11. One Way Out
12. Like Wolf
13. Have You Ever Been In Love
14. Cool Disposition
15. I Know What Love Is All About



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1989 Clowning With The World w/ Willie Love

01. She's Crazy
02. 309
03. Sonny's Rhythm
04. City Of New Orleans
05. Keep It To Yourself
06. Shucking Mama
07. I'm Not Begging Nobody
08. Clowning With The World
09. Take It Easy Baby
10. Little Car Blues
11. V-8 Ford
12. Nelson Street Blues
13. Falling Rain
14. Feed My Body To The Fishes
15. Worried Blues
16. Lonesome World Blues


1993 The Essential Sonny Boy Williamson

01. Good Evening Everybody
02. Don't Start Me To Talking
03. All My Love In Vain
04. You Killing Me
05. Let Me Explain
06. Your Imagination
07. Don't Lose Your Eye
08. Keep It To Yourself
09. The Key (to your door)
10. Have You Ever Been In Love
11. Fattening Frogs For Snakes
12. I Don't Know
13. Like Wolf
14. Cross My Heart
15. Ninety Nine
16. Born Blind
17. Little Village
18. Unseen Eye
19. Your Funeral And My Trial
20. Keep Your Hands Out Of My Pocket
21. Unseeing Eye
22. Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide
23. The Goat
24. Cool Disposition
25. Santa Claus
26. Checking Up On My Baby
27. Temperature 110
28. Lonesome Cabin
29. Somebody Help Me
30. Down Child
31. Trust My Baby
32. Too Close Together
33. Too Young To Die
34. She's My Baby
35. Stop Right Now
36. Too Old To think
37. One Way Out
38. Nine Below Zero
39. Help Me
40. Bye Bye Bird
41. Bring It On Home
42. Decoration Day
43. Trying To Get back On My Feet
44. Close To Me
45. I Can't Be Alone



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1997 His Best

01. Good Evening Everybody
02. Don't Start Me To Talking
03. All My Love In Vain
04. Keep It To Yourself
05. Fattening Frogs For Snakes
06. I Don't Know
07. Cross My Heart
08. Born Blind
09. Ninety Nine
10. Your Funeral And My Trial
11. Keep Your Hands Out Of My pocket
12. Sad To Be Alone
13. Checking Up On My Baby
14. Down Child
15. Nine Below Zero
16. Bye Bye Bird
17. Help Me
18. Bring It On Home
19. My Younger Days
20. One Way Out


1999 Nine Below Zero

01. Crazy 'Bout You Baby
02. Eyesight To The Blind
03. Stop Crying
04. Do It If You Wanna
05. Cool, Cool Blues
06. Come On Back Home
07. Cross My Heart
08. Pontiac Blues
09. West Memphis Blues
10. Mighty Long Time
11. Sonny Boy's Christmas Blues
12. Nine Below Zero
13. Too Close Together
14. Mr. Downchild
15. Stop Now Baby
16. Cat Hop
17. City Of New Orleans
18. She's Crazy
19. Keep It To Yourself
20. Sonny's Rhythm
21. 309
22. Dust My Broom
23. Catfish Blues
24. Gotta Find My Baby
25. Make A Little Love



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