John Lee Curtis Williamson, known to bluesologists as ‘the first Sonny Boy’ or ‘Sonny Boy No. 1’ because he preceded another famed bluesman (‘Rice’ Miller) who also used the SBW moniker, can rightly be considered the forefather of the postwar Chicago blues style. It was he who brought the harmonica to prominence in the blues and he who pioneered the harmonica-led small combo format that defined the Chicago idiom in its 1940s development. But those elements came together earlier in St. Louis, where Williamson was based when his recording career began in 1937. St. Louis is where the critical processes of urbanization and ensemble development often took place for bluesmen up from Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi, and it has been said that the blueprint for postwar Chicago blues was drawn up in St. Louis by Sonny Boy and his contemporaries. The roots of Williamson’s music came from the fertile blues scene of Jackson, Tennessee, where he was born on March 30, 1914. Williamson was nicknamed Sonny Boy by his grandmother; after he established his name as a recording star, he learned that another blues harmonica maestro was also calling himself Sonny Boy Williamson or Williams on KFFA radio in Helena, Arkansas, in the 1940s. By some reports, Sonny Boy No. 1 went to Helena to resolve the legalities; at any rate, Sonny Boy No. 2 was soon free to use the name because John Lee Williamson was murdered on the streets of Chicago on June 1, 1948. Recalled as a fun-loving, popular, but sometimes hot-headed character, Williamson contributed a wealth of memorable works to the discography of the blues, including “Good Morning (Little) School Girl,” “Blue Bird Blues,” and “Hoodoo Hoodoo” (the “Hoodoo Man Blues” of Junior Wells fame). His vocals and harp playing were widely imitated and many of his songs survived in the repertoires of artists like Wells, Snooky Pryor, Billy Boy Arnold, and Little Walter.
— Jim O’Neal
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