John Lee Williamson - The Original Sonny Boy Willi

Williamson, Sonny Boy

John Lee Williamson, the first Sonny Boy (some would say the only), is first glimpsed riding a bike around his native Jackson, Tennessee, in pursuit of Yank Rachell, the mandolin-playing erstwhile partner of another Brownsville resident, Sleepy John Estes, with a view to making music together. The impression Rachell gave was of Williamson being an eager young man who was a bit of a nuisance. In reality just four years separated them but Rachell was the seasoned traveller and Williamson the gifted ingenue. Rachell was partnered with Dan Smith at the time; So Sonny Boy wanted to play with us but we didn't pay him no attention. But in February 1934, they recorded for ARC: Sonny Boy wanted to go but he was just a boy riding a bike in Jackson. I didn't carry him 'cause I didn't think he was good enough to go - which he was. Sonny Boy was nineteen, Rachell twenty-three. When 'Good Morning Little School Girl' from a 1937 session (and the first track on this collection) was released, it was a runaway hit and Sonny Boy Williamson was a star - equally admired by his peers and by the public. He was, almost alone, responsible for the harmonica's conversion from a novelty to a key part of Blues instrumentation.

Price: $47.98