The "Original" Sonny Boy Williamson & His Story
William E. Donoghue
I have discovered four more employees of KFFA during the time of Sonny Boy Williamson/Alex "Rice" Miller's residence on King Biscuit Time -- in the past 24 hours! There insights add to the story of the "original" Sonny Boy Williamson I have been developing.
The story of Alex "Rice" Miller's use of the name "Sonny Boy Williamson" to which he often claimed that he was the "Original" is not just the cut and dried, "he stole it."
Apparently as SBW I's records were distributed widely in the Southern race record market and became hits in the black community, it was only natural that SBW II would be asked to play those songs, as it was his style -- he played harp at the skill level required, understood using different harps for different keys (not a casual or common occurrence) and sang well. In the late '30s he got a reputation for playing the many hits of SBW I, who made over 125 recordings under his own name plus many with Big Joe Williams, Robert Lee McCoy and other musicians before he died in 1948. Rice Miller had been using the name "Little Boy Blue" as late as 1939 and apparently used it again in 1944-45 in Little Rock AR and Monroe LA but he was not recorded until 1951.
SBW II used "Sonny Boy" Miller, "Harp Blowin' Slim", "Little Boy Blue" and other names before settling on "Sonny Boy Williamson." which he was using when he started King Biscuit Time. The white owners of King Biscuit Flour probably had no way of knowing about the race record market nor did they know about this other Sonny Boy Williamson (I). They simply did not listen to race music nor was it on the radio.
Remember KFFA came on the radio in 1941. It was only after some time that Max Moore of King Biscuit flour distributors Interstate Grocery Company, heard about the other Sonny Boy Williamsons (there were others who never recorded, one of who had the audacity to audition at Trumpet Records while they were releasing SBW II's records.) He was amazed at the huge crowds that the King Biscuit Entertainers drew in small Arkansas country towns of Mariana, Elaine, and Forest City. It was only then that it became clear how powerful SBW II's music was. Sales of King Biscuit Flour soared from two truckloads a year to two to three truckloads a week!
KFFA did not broadcast very far in those day and it was not expected that anyone would find out about Miller's scam nor did he care. He was being paid and SBW I was getting the record sales, so how could he complain. However, SBW II was fattening frogs for snakes (SBWI) for sure.
As to SBW II's claim as the "original", in my humble opinion he was trying to hide from some scam or crime or affront to the white community more dire than this simple impersonation. This scam probably kept him from being recorded by other companies.
SBW II was, indeed the older of the two, being born most probably on December 5, 1912 in or near Glendora MS while John Lee Williamson was probably born in 1914 in Jackson TN. They may have met each other during the late 1920s or the 1930s, and it is rumored that they were friends and acquaintances with SBW II having stayed at SBW I's home at least once. Out of courtesy to the memory of SBW I or to avoid being pestered about the use of the name, SBW II would appear most frequently in Chicago as "Sonny Boy Williams" and it is under that name that he entered the same Bluebird Studios as SBW I to record as a sideman with Tampa Red on one of his last recording sessions before the folk revival.
It is however, amazing that the record companies have made little effort to differentiate between the two and that even ARC music does not make the differentiation on its own website. I hope that clears up the mystery and confusion a bit.
I welcome any comments or clarifications on this matter from the experts who may have sources I have not yet found.
Bill Donoghue AKA 'fessor Mojo
www.sonnyboy.com
Bill Donoghue
L.A. Jones
>Folks
> I have discovered four more employees of KFFA during the time of
Sonny Boy Williamson/Alex "Rice" Miller's residence on King Biscuit Time --
in the past 24 hours! There insights add to the story of the "original"
Sonny Boy Williamson I have been developing.
Very, interesting post.
> Out of courtesy to the memory of SBW I or to avoid being pestered about
the use of the name, SBW II would appear most frequently in Chicago as
"Sonny Boy Williams" and it is under that name that he entered the same
Bluebird Studios as SBW I to record as a sideman with Tampa Red on one of
his last recording sessions before the folk revival.
Pinetop Perkins once told me this too, that Rice Miller was known as "Sonny
Boy Williams". I never knew if it was tru or not as I had never seen it in
print, but I tended to believe it, Pinetop waas there after all.
"om peace peace peace"
from L.A. Jones & the Blues Messengers
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William E. Donoghue
>Hi,
>Well , I'm not an expert by any means but I do have Living Blues # 17 from
>the summer of 1974 that has a very long & fascinating interview with Houston
>Stackhouse by Jim O'Neal (IMHO, it was a much better magazine when the
>O'Neals ran it.) Anyway, here's what Mr. Stackhouse has to say about Sonny
>Boy's I & II,
>
>J.O.-" When was the first time you heard of Sonny Boy (II)?"
>
>H.S.- "I'd been hearin' of him a long time before I come out there . I'd
>heard he was a good harp blower & all that, but I hadn't never seen him or
>nothin' until I come up in Arkansas in '46. He was stayin' around in
>Mississippi but I never did see him.
That was 1946 that Stackhouse met Sonny Boy, five years after Sonny Boy had used the SBW name on King Biscuit Time.
>J.O.- "When did he take the name Sonny Boy Williamson?"
>
>H.S.- " Well, I don't know how long he had the name Sonny Boy Williamson ,
>but his real name was Rice Miller. He said, "My real name is Rice Miller but
>I named myself Sonny Boy." In '46 I met him. Me & Robert (Nighthawk) come up
>to Cairo, Illinois on a little scout one week & we run up on him in there.
>In Cairo he was namin' himself Little Boy Blue, & so not too long after that
>he came back to Helena. He was Sonny Boy Williamson when he come back to
>Helena. He was a terrible scound. I don't know why he just changed his name
Actually it may not have been Cairo but in Harrisburg Illinois on WEBQ in 1939 that he used the name "Little Boy Blue" and that would be why he was using the name in that area, Cairo for example is only about 50 miles away.
>.
>J.O.- " Did John Lee Williamson , Sonny Boy from Chicago ,ever go down to
>Helena?"
>
>H.S.-" Yeah, Sonny Boy came down to Helena & tackled 'em about it , but they
>found that Sonny Boy was Williamson , he was a Willams. He didn't have no
>crew at him then. So they went around & played a little together, they tell
>me. I don't know. But at first he was hoppy, he was goin' mess Sonny Boy up
>for usin' his name but he didn't look to see , he was a Willams, A-M-S,
>until Sonny Boy was S-O-N, you see. Yeah, he coulda got something outa Mr..
>Moore & them about that , too , couldn't he? If they sued 'em."
>J.O.- " Did he try to sue?"
>
That story is plausible and tempting to believe but I don't think any black could have found a court in Mississippi or Arkansas willing to allow him to press his charges. Both Williamson and Williams sound the same in the South. Both SBW's knew each other much earlier than this time (1940s) and had little animosity toward each other, in spite of Billy Boy Arnold's assumption of SBW I's positions. I found no evidence of this event except in printed reports. It is tempting to believe and makes sense in retrospect but I found no one who remembered it well or could confirm the nature of the visit. It may be a myth or if the visit did happen, there is little to think that in prospect it would have been effective. My mind is still open on this story.
>H.S.-" No, he didn't try it after that. They had different letters in the
>names. Well, that knocked it out. Don't be for that , though, it'd a been
>somthin' happenin'! They say B.B. wanted to get ahold to Little Milton 'bout
>playin' everything he was playin', he played it just like him & singin' it
>too, you know. yeah, they had him trumped up there once, they tell me , I
>don't know. But I see Little Milton's still playin' like him & everything.
>But they say BB King got mad about that."
>
>Maybe that sheds some light on things- then again, maybe not !!
>
>There are alot of other tales of "interesting " times with Sonny Boy II in
>the interview - one time he beat Elmore James out of $50 at a gig & Elmore
>put a hole in his head with a mike stand! This type of thing is what he was
>refering to when he said Sonny Boy was a " terrible scound."
>
I have heard this story too. The "terrible scound" and "liar" images are convenient but I have found that many of SBW's "lies" are confusions, misunderstandings and/or overstatements -- except for his insistence, against all odds, of being the "original" SBW. Unless he is covering something else, there was little advantage to him to keep up that story. It likely kept him from recording until he found someone who believe him.
>Bob
>
>
>
Bill Donoghue
Dave Therault
>Pinetop Perkins once told me this too, that Rice Miller was known as "Sonny
>Boy Williams". I never knew if it was tru or not as I had never seen it
>in
>print, but I tended to believe it, Pinetop waas there after all.
On Pine's last CD there is some CD-ROM content where he is interviewed, and
the interviewer refers to him as Sonny Boy Williams.
-dave therault
P.W. Fenton
I think these are both examples of lazy speech, and perhaps caused by
illiteracy (I think you do this less when you are aware of how words are
spelled). Lightnin' Hopkins used to sing a song that he called "Buddy Brown's
Blues". In that song he refers to eating his breakfast, and someone cooking
his breakfast, only each time he sings it he pronounces it "brekfuhnnm". I
don't think we should conclude that this is some kind of new meal we know
nothing about.
Similarly, I think that these casual mentions of "Sonny Boy Williams" are just
the lazy dropping of a syllable, characteristic of an ethno-social speech
style.
I often get mail addressed to P.W. Senton. The result of someone hearing my
name incorrectly over the phone when I spell it out. The "f" sounding like
"s". Might this someday be looked at as evidence that I used another name?
Or that a separate person named Senton lived contemporaneous with me?
P.W. Fenton
Tampa, Florida
http://www.gate.net/~pwfenton
Dave Therault
>I think these are both examples of lazy speech, and perhaps caused by
>illiteracy (I think you do this less when you are aware of how words are
>spelled). Lightnin' Hopkins used to sing a song that he called "Buddy
>Brown's
>Blues". In that song he refers to eating his breakfast, and someone cooking
>his breakfast, only each time he sings it he pronounces it "brekfuhnnm".
> I
>don't think we should conclude that this is some kind of new meal we know
>nothing about.
>
>Similarly, I think that these casual mentions of "Sonny Boy Williams" are
>just
>the lazy dropping of a syllable, characteristic of an ethno-social speech
>style.
Could be, PW. OTOH, at least brekfuhnnm has two syllables. The man who
interviewed Pinetop was a caucasion in his forties, so I think he would know
how to spell and say Williamson. When I heard hem say Williams, I assumed that
I was hearing a conventional name for Sonny Boy, within Pine's circle. I'm
sure that by the time the interview took place, Pinetop would have heard
Williamson said enough times to be able to repeat it and call him that, if he
wanted to.
I used to know a truck driver who would say, "Let's go get some breksfuss."
One of Hash Brown's lady friends used to call it, "breffdicks." Yep. And my
mother-in-law refers to zootskinny squash.
-dave therault
P.W. Fenton
>Could be, PW. OTOH, at least brekfuhnnm has two syllables. The man who
>interviewed Pinetop was a caucasion in his forties, so I think he would know
>how to spell and say Williamson.
I've got that CD-ROM, and viewed it just before I responded to your first
post, to make sure I remembered it correctly and wasn't just speaking off the
top of my head. The interviewer is a young African American man wearing a
beret. Pinetop, BTW, never says anything more than "Sonny Boy" in that
interview. Check it out if you have it.
Tom Jacobson
"astelleratnin" for accelerating. I have seen analysis of RJ's "poetic
genius" in which his use of "studyin rain" was used as a prime example.
Admittedly, I used to think that he was saying, "It started to rainin".
The idea of accelerating to drive the blues away, going to stillery,
perhaps some considerable distance away, to stay drunk all day, or for
days, has quite a punch. It also relates to his imagery in Terraplane,
and could have been an extra line that he came up for that song, but
later stuck on to another. (gross speculation)
TJ
PW wrote,
L.A. Jones
>In a message dated 2/5/99 6:37:03 AM, pwfe...@gate.net writes:
>
>>illiteracy (I think you do this less when you are aware of how words are
>>spelled). Lightnin' Hopkins used to sing a song that he called "Buddy
>>Brown's
>>Blues". In that song he refers to eating his breakfast, and someone cooking
>>his breakfast, only each time he sings it he pronounces it "brekfuhnnm".
>> I
>>don't think we should conclude that this is some kind of new meal we know
>>nothing about.
>>
>>just
>>the lazy dropping of a syllable, characteristic of an ethno-social speech
>>style.
>
>interviewed Pinetop was a caucasion in his forties, so I think he would know
that
>I was hearing a conventional name for Sonny Boy, within Pine's circle. I'm
>sure that by the time the interview took place, Pinetop would have heard
>Williamson said enough times to be able to repeat it and call him that, if he
>wanted to.
>
firm in his conviction that it was WILLIAMS
Rory McQuillan
>I was hearing a conventional name for Sonny Boy, within Pine's circle.
My harp player usually refers to Sonny Boy as "Sonny Boy Williams". I
always thought he had it screwed up, but who knows?