Sonny Boy Williamson Pt. 1_StCelibart.com

[francescocusato]

È stato il più conosciuto e influente armonicista della sua generazione e veniva anche citato come "the father of modern blues harp"

[doowopman49]

real nice and informative given the alloted time here. thank you very much for the treat,Tom D,Brick,NJ

[d820m]

Harpist Billy Boy Arnold had just recently been receiving informal lessons from Sonny Boy when he was murdered....he had somehow summoned up the courage to knock on Sonny Boy's door (because he live a few houses down from him) and asked if he would teach him how to play

[ulucb]

Thanks to whoever made this film. It's real nice that somebody made the effort to remind people of this great and important artist.

One little detail: I don't know why it should bug me, but I wish the narrator had pronounced Big Maceo's name correctly.

[pheelineerie]

That photo with Lacey Belle: where is the from? (at 7:22)

[StCelibart]

Unfortunately, I can't offer time or place for any of the photos. Sonny Boy's half brother died just a few years before I put this together, so I could get no first-hand family info, and I had access only to previously published photos. @pheelineerie

[Lukeblueslover]

hey people, I'm italian and I can't understand what's the name of the disease (?) which affected the speech of Sonny Boy. Could someone help me? Thanks;)

[d8ford]

He had a speech impediment called a "stammer". It's not a disease.

[frenzexperiment]

trattasi di balbuzie...

[Mmmousemaid]

The history of blues artists, is the real history of

America.

Mmmousemaid

[jc333jc]

Thanks for posting this. It's great to see it.

Most folk get John and Rice Miller mixed up. Not surprising as he took his name as "Sonny Boy Williamson II. John was a much better and innovative harp player and singer IMHO. I've got some old recording of his with out-takes of some awful racism on them, which gives a flavour of the times.

What a pity no-one filmed Robert Johnson and some of the other fantastic musicians of the era.

[2009framat]

You can't really compare the both sonny boys. I think everyone was great in his own way. I think SONNY BOY II was older but not born in 1897 like he always claimed (but he certainly looked older than he actually was). When he started recording he was at least in his late 40's while John Lee did his last recordings at the age of 33.

[2009framat]

JOHN LEE started when he was a young man in his mid-20's. Both had complete different back up bands - Sonny Boy II had a more modern one with people like Robert Lockwood, M. Waters, O.Spann, Fred Below, Billy Emerson for instance.

While John Lee sounded more optimistic & frolic compared to Alex the later one sounded (naturally) more experienced with ups & down of life and more pessimistic.

[2009framat]

BTW Little Walter had a similar opinion like yours. In a 1964 interview to british Jazz monthly he said SONNY BOY II would live on borrowed time and show mannerism.

I like to invite you to my bluescartoons on JIMMY REED & SONNY BOY II. I hope you enjoy it,

bye

[2009framat]

In 1980 a west-berlin radio station did a 90 minute documentary about him and some east german radio stations did around the same time some 2o minute specials on him.

Of course only people with interest in blues or jazz did listen to it. But east & west Berlin radio was quite good back then when it came to the blues.

I did a tribute to Jimmy REED and i like to invite you to watch my animated short film of 74 seconds. Reed was influenced by both Sonny boys. Like that documentary

[playanupe]

the blues began in the Mississippi Delta and then it migrated to Memphis and Beale St.

[atthewhiskey]

"Only the most devoted blues fans remember him today",well good lord were all devoted blues fans!

[JosephNScott]

"Only the most devoted blues fans remember him today"

Nah. Google hits:

"john lee" "sonny boy williamson" 112000

"furry lewis" 88100

"wynonie harris" 79200

"leroy carr" 70800

"memphis jug band" 63300

"mamie smith" 57500

"gus cannon" 31400

"cow cow davenport" 19000

[madmodpo]

Montréal loves this guy. Thanks for the vidéo.

[KayNyne13]

True that and now we have our own new age blues man : Bad News Brown. D****mn does he got skills. The pionneers like pryor,williams and lil walter would be proud of him i swear..really innovative.

[metyuewb]

Bad News Brown comes nowhere near Sonny Boy 1, 2, Little Walter or James Cotton. He's got skills but no, he's not that innovative and worst of all he's willing to push the harmonica in the background cause it may be cool but not THAT cool

[KayNyne13]

I didn't say he's near them,..it would be like saying Floyd Mayweather is near muhammad ali.. i just said he would make the pionneers proud because like it or not, his innovative fusion of hiphop and blues harmonica is something nobody has done before and something nobody ever thought was possible. But i agree..ain't nothin' like the good ol' blues ;)

[walkingstickdragon]

thanks for posting this. Nobody plays like Sonny Boy, and he's real underrated

[hookalakah]

Nice work, but I have two caveats: DeFord Bailey preceeded Sonny Boy, so we can't call the latter the "first great harmonica player." Second, the pianist's name is pronounced Big MAceo, not Big MacEo. Otherwise, nice work.

[JosephNScott]

The section about "child's toy... lead instrument... write his own tunes" is extremely misleading (to put it kindly). We're talking about someone who started recording in '37 here, not '27. Jaybird Coleman e.g. was a great virtuoso before him.

"W.C. Handy and Beale Street had given birth to the blues"

Folklorists collected "black" folk songs with the word "blues" in them in Georgia and Mississippi before Handy began publishing blues.

[oceansidermike]

Xlnt Video and Documentary! 5 Stars for sure!

[bandini]

Good to see this immensely influential (but sadly lesser-known) performer getting some attention. There are so many blues performers who don't even realize the songs they are playing have their origins in John Lee's original tunes. Nice job.

[bluesdoor]

Thank you for the words. We must be brothers of other mothers

[germanharp]

thanks for putting this together and posting. Well done!

[StCelibart]

Thanks for all the comments. Be sure to check out Part 2, also on YouTube, or see the entire film at StCelibart dot com.

[lostintheblues]

Very enjoyable, thank you

[harpmac]

very good. well made. a nice tribute to an important harp player who sadly a little these days is sometimes over looked.

[leanground]

Great work...I made this oddysey last year from MA, one of my harps is on his stone.