DOCD-5055
We accept most major credit and debit cards, including:
| Sonny Boy Williamson Vol 1 1937 - 1938 £8.69 |
||
|
||
| Sonny Boy Williamson CDs
In a brief life of thirty four years Sonny Boy Williamson achieved immortality as the first of the three or four musicians who developed an instrument (the Harmonica) often described as 'semi-legitimate' into a major voice in the blues. His popularity and influence were immense and survive until today. Sonny Boy Williamson (John Lee Williamson) was born in Jackson, Tennessee on 30th March 1914. He left home at an early age, living the itinerant, hobo lifestyle. A speech defect made it difficult for the excitable and emotional Sonny Boy to communicate effectively except in the most relaxed circumstances. Sonny Boy learned to express himself through his music and this defect hardly appeared in his singing and did not restrict his ability on the Harmonica. He Hoboed around and worked with the bluesmen Big Joe Williams, Yank Rachell and John Estes through Tennessee and Arkansas. The Harmonica was the instrument of choice for this itinerent lifestyle. Small, easily carried in a pocket or bindle and it was cheap. Originally intended as much as a child's toy as a serious instrument it had special attractions for the poor and the itinerant. In the rural southern states of the U.S.A., on sharecroppers' stoops and in the hobo lifestyle, it developed, almost in isolation, into a genuine folk instrument. In 1934 Sonny Boy moved to Chicago where he worked Maxwell Street and as a sideman with numerous blues groups at the local clubs. Sonny Boy's first recordings (that feature on this CD) were accompanied by Big Joe Williams and Robert Lee McCoy (later to become famous as Robert Nighthawk) was made at the Leland Hotel, Aurora, Illinois, on the 5th May 1937 for the Bluebird label. The first track, "Good Morning, School Girl", was not an unknown tune but Sonny Boy brought to it a set of lyrics that have stayed with it ever since. His attractive short tongued delivery and clean swinging harp playing became a hit and has since become a much recorded blues classic tune. Other tracks in this first session include the personal "Blue Bird Blues" dedicated to Sonny Boy's wife Lacey Belle, and the perenial "Sugar Mama". Sonny Boy went on to record another session in November 1937, "Black Girl Blues" from this set has become known as "Wild About You Baby", while "Early In The Morning" was a reworking of the number usually associated with pianist Walter Roland. It is probably an indication of the interest in their new found star that the Bluebird label offered Sonny Boy another session in March 1938, which saw 10 songs being cut. Tracks from this session include "My Little Cornelious" (which is another version of "Blue Bird Blues") and the reflective masterpiece "Decoration Day", a markedly up-beat version of "You Can Lead Me". The Mandolin of Yank Rachell fills out the sound on this set and lends a brittle driving force to the faster numbers. The fastest, "I'm Tired Trucking My Blues Away" sees Big Joe Williams guitar setting a furious pace behind Sonny Boy's virtuoso Harmonica playing. This track really rocks and is an indication of the direction in which Sonny Boy Williamson was to take his music over the next few years. |
||
FEATURED ARTIST / S
|
| Sonny Boy Williamson More Titles? |
TRACK LIST
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||