SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON
Name: Sonny Boy Williamson
Birth name: John Lee Curtis Williamson
Born: 30 March 1914
Died: 1 June 1948
Sonny Boy Williamson (John Lee Curtis Williamson, 30 March 1914 - 1 June 1948)
was an American blues harmonica player, and the first to use the name Sonny Boy
Williamson.
He was born near Jackson, Tennessee in 1914. His original harmonica recordings
were considered to be in the country blues style, but he soon demonstrated skill
at making harmonica a lead instrument for the blues, and popularized the
instrument for the first time in a more urban blues setting. He has been called
"the father of modern blues harp".
His very first recording, "Good Morning, School Girl", was a major hit on the 'race
records' market in 1937. He was hugely popular among black audiences throughout
the whole southern U.S. as well as in the midwestern industrial cities such as
Detroit and his home base in Chicago, and his name was synonymous with the blues
harmonica for the next decade. Other well-known recordings of his include "Shake
the Boogie", "You Better Cut That Out", "Sloppy Drunk", and "Early In The
Morning". Williamson's style influenced a large number of blues harmonica
performers, including Billy Boy Arnold, Junior Wells, Sonny Terry, Little Walter,
and Snooky Pryor among many others. He was easily the most widely heard and
influential blues harmonica player of his generation. His music was also
influential on many of his non-harmonica playing contemporaries and successors,
including Muddy Waters (who had played with Williamson in the mid-1940s) and
Jimmy Rogers (whose first recording in 1946 was as a harmonica player,
performing an uncanny imitation of Williamson's style); Rogers later recorded
Williamson's songs "My Little Machine" and "Sloppy Drunk" on Chess, and Waters
recorded "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" on CBS/Blue Sky.
He was popular enough that by the 1940s, another blues harp player, Aleck/Alex "Rice"
Miller, who was based in Helena, Arkansas, began also using the name Sonny Boy
Williamson. John Lee is said to have objected to this, though no legal action
took place, possibly due to the fact that Miller did not release any records
during Williamson's lifetime, and also because Williamson played mainly around
the Chicago area, and Miller seldom ventured beyond the Mississippi delta region.
Williamson recorded prolifically both as a bandleader and a sideman over the
entire course of his career, mainly for the Bluebird record label, with many
early sessions taking place at the Leland Hotel in Aurora, Illinois; most later
sessions were recorded in Chicago. His final recording session took place in
December 1947, backing Big Joe Williams. On June 1, 1948, John Lee Williamson
was killed in a mugging on Chicago's South Side, as he walked home from his
final performance at The Plantation Club at 31st St. and Giles Ave., a tavern
just a block and a half away from his home at 3226 S. Giles.
His legacy has been overshadowed in the post-war blues era by the popularity of
the musician who falsely assumed his name, Rice Miller, who after Williamson's
death went on to record many popular blues songs for Chicago's Checker Records
label and others, and toured Europe several times during the 'blues revival' in
the early 1960s.
Williamson is buried at the former site of The Blairs Chapel Church, southwest
of Jackson, Tennessee. In 1991, a red granite marker was purchased by fans and
family to mark the site of his burial. A Tennessee historical marker, also
placed in 1991, indicates the place of his birth and describes his influence on
blues music. The historical marker is located south of Jackson on TN Highway 18,
at the corner of Caldwell Road.
Name: Sonny Boy Williamson
Birth name: John Lee Curtis Williamson
Born: 30 March 1914
Died: 1 June 1948
Sonny Boy Williamson (John Lee Curtis Williamson, 30 March 1914 - 1 June 1948)
was an American blues harmonica player, and the first to use the name Sonny Boy
Williamson.
He was born near Jackson, Tennessee in 1914. His original harmonica recordings
were considered to be in the country blues style, but he soon demonstrated skill
at making harmonica a lead instrument for the blues, and popularized the
instrument for the first time in a more urban blues setting. He has been called
"the father of modern blues harp".
His very first recording, "Good Morning, School Girl", was a major hit on the 'race
records' market in 1937. He was hugely popular among black audiences throughout
the whole southern U.S. as well as in the midwestern industrial cities such as
Detroit and his home base in Chicago, and his name was synonymous with the blues
harmonica for the next decade. Other well-known recordings of his include "Shake
the Boogie", "You Better Cut That Out", "Sloppy Drunk", and "Early In The
Morning". Williamson's style influenced a large number of blues harmonica
performers, including Billy Boy Arnold, Junior Wells, Sonny Terry, Little Walter,
and Snooky Pryor among many others. He was easily the most widely heard and
influential blues harmonica player of his generation. His music was also
influential on many of his non-harmonica playing contemporaries and successors,
including Muddy Waters (who had played with Williamson in the mid-1940s) and
Jimmy Rogers (whose first recording in 1946 was as a harmonica player,
performing an uncanny imitation of Williamson's style); Rogers later recorded
Williamson's songs "My Little Machine" and "Sloppy Drunk" on Chess, and Waters
recorded "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" on CBS/Blue Sky.
He was popular enough that by the 1940s, another blues harp player, Aleck/Alex "Rice"
Miller, who was based in Helena, Arkansas, began also using the name Sonny Boy
Williamson. John Lee is said to have objected to this, though no legal action
took place, possibly due to the fact that Miller did not release any records
during Williamson's lifetime, and also because Williamson played mainly around
the Chicago area, and Miller seldom ventured beyond the Mississippi delta region.
Williamson recorded prolifically both as a bandleader and a sideman over the
entire course of his career, mainly for the Bluebird record label, with many
early sessions taking place at the Leland Hotel in Aurora, Illinois; most later
sessions were recorded in Chicago. His final recording session took place in
December 1947, backing Big Joe Williams. On June 1, 1948, John Lee Williamson
was killed in a mugging on Chicago's South Side, as he walked home from his
final performance at The Plantation Club at 31st St. and Giles Ave., a tavern
just a block and a half away from his home at 3226 S. Giles.
His legacy has been overshadowed in the post-war blues era by the popularity of
the musician who falsely assumed his name, Rice Miller, who after Williamson's
death went on to record many popular blues songs for Chicago's Checker Records
label and others, and toured Europe several times during the 'blues revival' in
the early 1960s.
Williamson is buried at the former site of The Blairs Chapel Church, southwest
of Jackson, Tennessee. In 1991, a red granite marker was purchased by fans and
family to mark the site of his burial. A Tennessee historical marker, also
placed in 1991, indicates the place of his birth and describes his influence on
blues music. The historical marker is located south of Jackson on TN Highway 18,
at the corner of Caldwell Road.