Hey Sonic Junction!

Rick Estrin here, and I'm back.

In this series we're going revisit the style of John Lee "Sonnyboy" Williamson with my version of his song, "You Don't Love Me That Way". When we get into the tune, we'll be using a Bb harp, but first, to go along with this performance, I'll provide a little historical background information. There's been a ton of confusion and even controversy surrounding the name Sonnyboy Williamson. It stems from the fact that two of the all-time greatest and most influential blues harmonica players used the name. The first Sonnyboy was John Lee "Sonnyboy" Williamson. He was a hugely popular Chicago recording artist in the 1930s and '40s who, at only 34 years of age, was tragically murdered in 1948. He recorded more than 100 songs for the RCA/Bluebird label, both as a leader and as a sideman with artists such as Big Joe Williams and Yank Rachell. The second Sonnyboy who has been described as a rapscallion and a raconteur, was also a great artist as well as a pioneering exponent of "alternative facts". He had been known variously as Little Boy Blue, Willie Miller, Alec Miller and "Rice" Miller. Regionally, in the Mississippi delta, he began fraudulently using the name Sonnyboy Williamson, years before John Lee Williamson's untimely death. Ironically, the second Sonnyboy, for a variety of reasons, has become the more widely known of the two, but for those in the know, the real Sonnyboy, John Lee Williamson, was the undisputed, official father of what has come to be known as Chicago Blues Harmonica.

Rick

 

 

Topics and/or subjects covered in this lesson:
Chicago Blues