Thursday, October 13, 2005

mp3s by Sonny Boy Williamson


Click for Sonny Boy Williamson
(John Lee Williamson) @ Amazon

One of my all time favorite pre-war blues men is Sonny Boy Williams. It is kind of funny how I discovered him. I went to a music store to buy a CD by Sonny Boy Williams II (Rice Miller) and bought a CD by the original Sonny Boy and this was my introduction his pre war blues harmonica style. I fell in love with the raw emotions of his playing, and the mastery that he exhibts.

The irony of finding Sonny Boy while looking for Rice Miller takes some of the sting off the fact that Miller stole the name from Sonny Boy. And I have wondered how many other Sonny Boy Williams fans found him that way. The theft of Sonny Boy's name caused music historiains some confusion for a while there. But research has proven the original Sonny Boy Williams was in fact John Lee Williamson. In 1914 he was born near Jackson Tennessee which he even mentions in a couple of his songs. Some have called him the "father of the modern blues harmonica," and I agree with this assesment.

In 1948, Sonny Boy was tragically killed after a mugging.

Reference;

Sonny Boy Williamson @ Answer.com

MP3s (hosted @ rapidshare);

Sonny Boy Williamson - Dealing with the Devil

Sonny Boy Williamson - Check Up On My Baby Blues

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Thursday, October 06, 2005

mp3s by Mississippi John Hurt

Mississippi John Hurt

Stack O'Lee Blues

Frankie

Louis Collins

Nodbody's Dirty Business

"Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, he learned to play guitar at age 10. He spent much of his youth playing old time music for friends and dances, earning a living as a farm hand into the 1920s. In 1923 he often partnered with the fiddle player Willie Narmour (Carroll County Blues) as a substitute for his regular partner Shell Smith. When Narmour got a chance to record for OKeh Records in reward for winning first place in a 1928 fiddle contest, Narmour recommended John Hurt to OKeh Records producer Tommy Rockwell. After auditioning "Monday Morning Blues" at his home, he took part in two recording sessions, in Memphis and New York City (See Discography @ www.answers.com). The "Mississippi" tag was added by OKeh as a sales gimmick. After the commercial failure of the resulting disc and OKeh records going out of business during the depression, Hurt returned to Avalon and obscurity working as a sharecropper and playing local parties and dances."

"Mississippi John Hurt." @ Answers.com.

Mississippi John Hurt

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