Sonny Boy Williamson
Wikimp3 information about the music of Sonny Boy Williamson. On our website we have 70 albums and 70 collections of artist Sonny Boy Williamson. You can find useful information and download songs of this artist. We also know that Sonny Boy Williamson represents Blues genres.
Biography
[Edit]Easily the most important harmonica player of the prewar era, John Lee Williamson almost single-handedly made the humble mouth organ a worthy lead instrument for blues bands — leading the way for the amazing innovations of Little Walter and a platoon of others to follow. If not for his tragic murder in 1948 while on his way home from a Chicago gin mill, Williamson would doubtless have been right there alongside them, exploring new and exciting directions.
It can safely be noted that Williamson made the most of his limited time on the planet. Already a harp virtuoso in his teens, the first Sonny Boy (Rice Miller would adopt the same moniker down in the Delta) learned from Hammie Nixon and Noah Lewis and rambled with Sleepy John Estes and Yank Rachell before settling in Chicago in 1934.
Williamson's extreme versatility and consistent ingenuity won him a Bluebird recording contract in 1937. Under the direction of the ubiquitous Lester Melrose, Sonny Boy Williamson recorded prolifically for Victor both as a leader and behind others in the vast Melrose stable (including Robert Lee McCoy and Big Joe Williams, who in turn played on some of Williamson's sides).
Williamson commenced his sensational recording career with a resounding bang. His first vocal offering on Bluebird was the seminal "Good Morning School Girl," covered countless times across the decades. That same auspicious date also produced "Sugar Mama Blues" and "Blue Bird Blues," both of them every bit as classic in their own right.
The next year brought more gems, including "Decoration Blues" and "Whiskey Headed Woman Blues." The output of 1939 included "T.B. Blues" and "Tell Me Baby," while Williamson cut "My Little Machine" and "Jivin' the Blues" in 1940. Jimmy Rogers apparently took note of Williamson's "Sloppy Drunk Blues," cut with pianist Blind John Davis and bassist Ransom Knowling in 1941; Rogers adapted the tune in storming fashion for Chess in 1954. The mother lode of 1941 also included "Ground Hog Blues" and "My Black Name," while the popular "Stop Breaking Down" (1945) found the harpist backed by guitarist Tampa Red and pianist Big Maceo.
Sonny Boy cut more than 120 sides in all for RCA from 1937 to 1947, many of them turning up in the postwar repertoires of various Chicago blues giants. His call-and-response style of alternating vocal passages with pungent harmonica blasts was a development of mammoth proportions that would be adopted across the board by virtually every blues harpist to follow in his wake.
But Sonny Boy Williamson wouldn't live to reap any appreciable rewards from his inventions. He died at the age of 34, while at the zenith of his popularity (his romping "Shake That Boogie" was a national R&B hit in 1947 on Victor), from a violent bludgeoning about the head that occurred during a strong-arm robbery on the South Side. "Better Cut That Out," another storming rocker later appropriated by Junior Wells, became a posthumous hit for Williamson in late 1948. It was the very last song he had committed to posterity. Wells was only one young harpist to display his enduring allegiance; a teenaged Billy Boy Arnold had recently summoned up the nerve to knock on his idol's door to ask for lessons. The accommodating Sonny Boy Williamson was only too happy to oblige, a kindness Arnold has never forgotten (nor does he fail to pay tribute to his eternal main man every chance he gets). Such is the lasting legacy of the blues' first great harmonicist.
Title: Charly Blues Masterworks, Volume 22: Nine Below Zero
Artist: Sonny Boy Williamson
Genre: Blues
Collections
Title: Chess Chartbusters, Vol. 3
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul, Pop
Title: Chess Chartbusters, Vol. 4
Genre: Pop
Title: Only Blues Music
Genre: Blues
Title: Blues, Blues Christmas (1925-1955)
Genre: Blues
Title: 101 - The Best of Vintage Blues
Genre: Electronica, Dancefloor, Dance Pop
Title: Greatest Big Hits of 1962, Vol. 32
Genre: Pop
Title: Monsters of Blues
Genre: Blues
Title: 100 Electric Blues
Genre: Blues
Title: The All Electric Blues Album
Genre: Blues
Title: An Introduction to Texas Blues
Genre: Blues
Title: Call of Duty - Songs of Civil & World Wars
Genre: Jazz
Title: Blues & Rockabilly Boogie
Genre: Blues
Title: Vintage Christmas Blues
Genre: Blues
Title: Voodoo Blues
Genre: Blues
Title: American Boogie & Blues - The Lost Album
Genre: Blues
Title: Boogie Woogie, Vol. 5
Genre: Blues
Title: Blues Music
Genre: Blues
Title: En Privado... Blues Vol. 1
Genre: Blues
Title: The Blues From the Fields Into the Town
Genre: Blues
Title: Blues!
Genre: Blues, World Music
Title: Out for Kicks - Blues Trashed & Fuzzed
Genre: Rock
Title: Blues and Nothing But
Genre: Blues
Title: R&B Hits of 1951, Vol. 2
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul
Title: Baby Please Don't Go! 30 Essential Blues Songs
Genre: Blues
Title: Rare Blues
Genre: Blues
Title: The Very Best of American Folk Blues Festival '63 - '85
Genre: Blues
Title: The Blues That Built America
Genre: Blues
Title: Complete Chicago Blues
Genre: Blues
Title: Best of Chicago Blues
Genre: Country
Title: Best Chicago Blues
Genre: Blues
Title: Chicago Town Blues
Genre: Blues
Title: Folk Blues, Vol. 1
Genre: Pop
Title: The History of Blues: Four
Genre: Blues
Title: Chess Chartbusters, Vol. 1
Title: A Brief History of the Blues
Genre: Blues
Title: American Folk Blues Festival '63
Genre: Blues, Songwriter/Lyricist
Title: The Chess Blues-Rock Songbook
Genre: Blues
Title: Death Might Be Your Santa Claus
Genre: Blues
Title: Just the Blues
Genre: Blues
Title: Boogie Woogie, Vol. 6
Genre: Blues
Title: The Legacy of Blues (Volumen)
Genre: Blues
Title: Essential Chicago Blues - 50 Classic Tracks
Genre: Electronica, Dancefloor, Dance Pop
Title: Chess Blues (Box Set)
Genre: Blues
Title: Blues Classics
Genre: Blues
Title: Top 20 Harmonica Blues
Genre: Blues
Title: Blues Masterpieces, Vol. 6
Genre: Blues
Title: 100 Blues Classics
Genre: Blues
Title: 100 Christmas Blues - Songs to Get You Through the Cold
Genre: Blues
Title: Blues! Live In Concert
Title: 100 Christmas Blues - Songs to Get You Through the Cold
Genre: Blues
Title: Alcohol Coke & Gin
Title: Jackson Stomp - The Charlie McCoy Story
Genre: Blues
Title: Midnight Steppers
Genre: Blues
Title: Big Road Blues
Genre: Blues
Title: Folk Blues, Vol. 3
Genre: Pop
Title: Early Blues Brothers
Genre: Blues
Title: The Sounds of Louisiana Blues
Genre: Blues
Title: Top 20 Delta Blues
Genre: Blues
Title: Vintage Rural Blues
Genre: Blues
Title: Best - Harmonica Blues
Genre: Blues
Featuring albums
Title: The Complete Blues Anthology (Doxy Collection, Remastered)
Artist: Various Artists
Genre: Blues
Title: The Best Of Blues Guitar 20th Century Masters The Millennium Collection
Artist: Various Artists
Genre: Blues
Title: The Animals with Sonny Boy Williamson
Artist: Sonny Boy Williamson The Animals
Genre: Electronica, Dancefloor
Title: Down Home and Street Corner Blues: 30 Legendary Blues Songs
Artist: Various Artists
Genre: Blues
Title: Chicago Blues Sessions the Rarities Collection 1950 to 1965
Artist: Various Artists
Genre: Blues
Title: Lost Blues Tapes / More American Folk Blues Festival 1963-65
Artist: Various Artists
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap
Title: He Wille Dixon Story 1940-1960 (CD2: The Session Man)
Artist: Willie Dixon
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Blues, Jazz