# Sonny Boy Williamson II nicknamed “King of the Harmonica”: Video

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2018/03/11/sonny-boy-williamson-iinicknamed-king-of-the-harmonica-video/
- Published: 2018-03-11T00:03:52+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**11.03. – Happy Birthday !!! Sonny Boy Williamson II, nicknamed “King of the Harmonica”
by his peers, was one of the most inspiring harp players in blues history. With 
his passionate yet understated style, his metronome-like timing, and his endlessly
inventive technique, he has influenced generations of players, including such virtuosos
as Howling Wolf, James Cotton and Junior Wells. **

Aside from being a harp player who helped set the course of modern blues, he was
also a legendary blues character whose colorful personality, unpredictable actions,
and frequent stretching of the truth only served to enliven his blues with a rare,
but warmly embraced, eccentricity.

According to his gravestone, Rice Miller was born March 11, 1897, in the country
between Glendora and Tutwiler, Mississippi. He was raised by his mother Millie Ford
and stepfather Jim Miller, and acquired the nickname “Rice” as a young child. Miller,
taught himself to play harmonica at the age of five, and became quite adept on it,
playing spiritual music at parties for tips as a child. As he grew older, he began
playing spirituals at schools and street corners as “Little Boy Blue.” During the
1920s he left his parents’ home and began to hobo, playing blues to support himself.

Miller hoboed through Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Missouri during the 
1920s, playing levee and lumber camps, juke joints, and parties. He claimed to have
made unissued test recordings in the late 1920s, but these have never been found.
During the 1930s Miller teamed up with guitarists Elmore James and Robert Johnson
for short periods. He also developed a partnership with a young Johnson protégé,
guitarist Robert Jr. Lockwood. During the late 1930s, Jackson, Tennessee, harmonica
wizard John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson recorded several hits including “Good Morning
Little School Girl” and “Bluebird Blues” for the Bluebird label in Chicago. During
the early 1940s, Rice Miller began calling himself “Sonny Boy Williamson” and responded
to anyone who questioned it that he was “the original Sonny Boy.”

As Sonny Boy Williamson, he and Lockwood auditioned for executives of Interstate
Grocer, the makers of King Biscuit flour, in the Interstate Grocer Co. Building.
Interstate Grocer agreed to sponsor the pair and in 1941 they began broadcasting
from the Floyd Truck Lines Building on KFFA radio. King Biscuit Time was arguably
the most influential radio show in blues history, reaching as-yet unrecorded blues
artists Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf, and Jimmy Rogers, as well as the 
large Delta blues audience. As remuneration for hawking King Biscuit flour and cornmeal,
Williamson was allowed to announce his upcoming gigs on the air. He became an established
star throughout the Delta and recruited guitarist Joe Willie Wilkins to augment 
the group.

Williamson left KFFA in 1944, and hooked up with Elmore James after the latter’s
discharge from the U.S. Navy in 1945. By 1947, Williamson had taken lodgings in 
the Belzoni, Mississippi, boarding house where James lived. Ever the promoter, he
and James broadcast from O.J. Turner’s drugstore in Belzoni, over a hookup to Yazoo
City’s WAZF and Greenville’s WGVM, hawking Talaho Syrup. Williamson toured the Delta
with James and Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup during the late 1940s before leaving for 
West Memphis, Arkansas, in 1948. In West Memphis, he secured another radio job, 
this time pitching Hadacol Tonic on KWEM. It was here that he met B.B. King, who
had approached Williamson for work as a sideman. Typically, Williamson had a more
lucrative job offer in Clarksdale, Mississippi, but was scheduled the same night
for the 16th Street Grill in West Memphis. He gave the 16th Street Grill job to 
King, admonishing the young guitarist not to fail.

Williamson first recorded on January 5, 1951, for Lillian McMurry’s Trumpet label.
The session took place at Trumpet’s studio at 309 Farish Street in Jackson, Mississippi,
and featured backing from pianist Willie Love, Elmore James, Joe Willie Wilkins,
and drummer “Frock” O’Dell. Although nothing was issued from this session, McMurry
continued recording Williamson for several more years. Many of the sides he recorded
for Trumpet, such as “Eyesight to the Blind,” “Nine Below Zero,” and “West Memphis
Blues,” have since become blues harp standards. After Trumpet suspended operations
in 1955, Williamson moved to Milwaukee and began recording for Chess subsidiary 
Checker Records.

At Checker, Williamson began a series of hit singles, beginning with “Don’t Start
Me to Talking,” which featured sympathetic backing from the Muddy Waters band. His
harp style featured a phenomenal technique that layered a wide dynamic range, complex
phrasing, and a variety of effects, all held together by his impeccable timing. 
Williamson’s singing lacked the dynamism of his playing and his gruff, hoarse vocals
conveyed a broad range of emotion unmatched by the range of his voice. He was also
an accomplished songwriter, and many of the songs he recorded for Checker, including“
One Way Out,” “Fattening Frogs for Snakes,” and “Your Funeral And My Trial,” are
considered blues classics. Backed by Lockwood and ace Chess session musicians including
guitarist Luther Tucker, pianists Otis Spann and Lafayette Leake, bassist Willie
Dixon, and drummer Fred Below, Williamson created a modern sound that revolved around
his harmonica shuffles.

Williamson continued to tour the Delta, working his way back to Milwaukee through
Helena, Memphis, and St. Louis. He toured Europe as part of the American Folk Blues
Festival package in 1963 and 1964, remaining for some time in England, where he 
became a sensation. He returned to Helena in 1965 and rented a room at a boarding
house at 427 ½ Elm Street, telling everyone who asked that he had “come home to 
die.” He resumed playing King Biscuit Time, now broadcast from KFFA’s studio atop
the Helena National Bank Building.

Sonny Boy Williamson died May 25, 1965, at his boarding house.

For blues harp enthusiasts, here are some further notes on Sonny Boy’s innovative
technique:

His preferred harmonica was a 10-hole Hohner Marine Band or OId Standby, but he 
sometimes played the larger Marine Bands: the 12-hole 364 and the 14-hole 365. Some
publicity photographs show him holding an Echo-Vamper, which is similar to the 364.
From time to time – for example, on “Dissatisfied” – he used a Hohner Koch Chromatic.
It has been claimed that he modified his harps by slightly bending the reeds with
a toothpick, but this may have been a misconception.

His preferred harmonica keys were F, C, B flat and D, but he also played in E, G
and A.

He generally played in second position, with the occasional exception (e.g., on “
Trust My Baby” be played in first position on a G harp, and on “I Don’t Know” he
played in third position on a C harp).

He used the tongue-blocking (as opposed to lip-puckering) technique most of the 
time and was an accomplished note- bender.

His Chess recordings were characterized by single-note runs, but his Storyville 
sessions reveal a skilful use of rhythm and chords.

He had a largely acoustic sound, playing to a mike on a stand and using his hands
extensively for tremolo and wah- wah effects. However, he sometimes opted for an
amplified sound, using a mike cupped in his hands (e.g., in “Cross My Heart”).

Almost all his notes are lower than the 5-hole draw. He rarely used the top octave,
but when he did (as in “Sonny’s Rhythm”) he used it very effectively.

![Related image](https://i0.wp.com/thebluesmobile.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/
sonnyboywilliamsoniisonny_boy_williamson.jpg?w=640)

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