<back - SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON II aka RICE MILLER - Born Dec 5, 1899, lower Tallahatchie County near Glendora, MS, Died May 25, 1965, Helena, AK. He claimed to fans and Blues researchers that he was the original 'Sonny Boy' (John Lee Williamson) who came from Jackson, Tennessee and recorded for Bluebird and later RCA Victor until his untimely death at the hands of an assailant on a Chicago street in the late 1940's. But according to his sister, Mary Ashford of Tutwiler, his real name was Alex 'Rice' Miller. "He was born a Miller and his father's name was Miller" she says of her musician brother who died in Helena, AK, 1965 of failed health.

Although he borrowed both his performing name and the basis of his style from John Lee Williamson, Rice Miller was the most individual and creative of the Chicago Blues harp players of the time. He was the only one who defined a style all his own, separate from the electried style of Little Walter. By the early '40s, he was the star of KFFA's King Biscuit Time, the first live Blues radio to hit the American airwaves. The show was an immediate hit, and introduced 'Sonny Boy Corn Meal' complete with a likeness of Williamson on the front of the package. His first session for Chess Records took place on August 12, 1955, and the single, Don't Start Me to Talkin', started selling on the R&B charts. By his second session for Chess, he was reunited with musical partner Robert Jr. Lockwood, cutting classic's like, Help Me, Keep It To Yourself, Your Funeral and My Trial, Bring It On Home and more. In 1963 he was headed to Europe for the first time, as part of the American Folk Blues Festival.  Sonny Boy unleashed his bag of tricks and stole the show every night. He loved Europe and stayed behind in Britain when the tour headed home. One of his final recordings, with Jimmy Page on guitar, was entitled 'I'm Trying to Make London My Home'. In 1965, he headed home, back to Helena Arkansas one last time, and took over the King Biscuit Time radio show again. He would enlist the help of old friends like Houston Stackhouse and Peck Curtis to accompany him on gigs and the radio show. When Ronnie Hawkins' ex-band, The Hawks, (later to become The Band) were playing in the area, they made a special point of seeking out Sonny Boy and backed him up in a local juke joint. All through the night, Williamson kept spitting into a coffee can beside him. When Robbie Robertson got up to leave the bandstand during a break, he noticed the can was filled with blood. On May 25, 1965, Curtis and Stackhouse were waiting at the KFFA studios for Sonny Boy to do the daily King Biscuit broadcast. When Williamson didn't show, Curtis left the station and headed to the rooming house where Sonny Boy was staying, only to find him lying in bed, dead of an apparent heart attack. Sonny Boy Williamson was inducted to the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1980.  -LivinBlues
MP3 - Bring It On Home | Don't Start Me To Talkin' | One Way Out |