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3 unusual facts about Sonny Boy Williamson II


Glendora, Mississippi

Sonny Boy Williamson (Alex "Rice" Miller), the influential blues musician, was born on a plantation near Glendora.

Sonny Boy Williamson

Sonny Boy Williamson II (date unconfirmed–1965), Aleck "Rice" Miller, born in Mississippi and associated with Trumpet and Checker Records (recordings from 1951 to 1965)

The Exchange, Bristol

A regular Tuesday night club called The Bristol Chinese R'n'B and Jazz Club was also established which attracted American Blues singers including John Lee Hooker, Sonny Boy Williamson and Little Walter.


Harmonica techniques

Players to use the Tongue Blocking Technique are but not limited to Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson I, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Big Walter Horton, James Cotton, George Smith among many others.

Sonny Boy Williamson I

He was popular enough that by the 1940s, another blues harp player, Aleck/Alex "Rice" Miller, from Mississippi, began also using the name Sonny Boy Williamson.

Walter Roland

Apart from those musicians mentioned earlier, Roland's songs have been recorded by notables such as Sonny Boy Williamson II, Big Joe Williams, Booker T. Laury, Kim Simmonds, Koerner, Ray & Glover, Fred McDowell, and Lead Belly.


see also