2 LPs on 1 CD: THE REAL FOLK BLUES (1965)/MORE REAL FOLK BLUES (1966).
Includes liner notes by Mark Humphrey, Willie Dixon, Paul Williams.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
THE REAL FOLK BLUES:
Personnel includes: Sonny Boy Williamson (vocals, harmonica); Willie Dixon (vocals, bass); Robert Lockwood, Jr., Luther Tucker, Matt Murphy, Eddie King (guitar); Lafayette Leake (piano, organ); Otis Spann, Billy Emerson (piano); Milton Rector (acoustic & electric basses); Fred Below, Odie Payne, Al Duncan
(drums).
Producers: Leonard Chess, Phil Chess, Marshall Chess, Willie Dixon.
Recorded between June 1960 and April 1964. Originally released on Chess (1503).
MORE REAL FOLK BLUES:
Personnel includes: Sonny Boy Williamson (vocals, harmonica); Willie Dixon (vocals, bass); Matt Murphy, Robert Lockwood, Jr., Luther Tucker, Buddy Guy, Eddie King (guitar); Jarrett Gibson (tenor saxophone); Donald Hankins (baritone saxophone); Lafayette Leake (piano, organ); Otis Spann (piano);
Billy Emerson (organ); Milton Rector, Jack Meyers (bass); Al Duncan, Fred Below, Odie Payne, Clifton James (drums).
Recorded between June 1960 and April 1964. Originally released on Chess (1509).
Sonny Boy Williamson was born Aleck Ford and known as Aleck Miller before adopting the familiar moniker. An earlier bluesman, born Rice Miller (1914-1948), went by the same name, though he died before this one showed up on the scene. Though this second Sonny Boy was prone to wildly contradictory biographical "facts" and unreliable self-mythologizing, his musical legacy is quite solid. His edgy singing and harmonica playing was like a dagger lunging forward in the teeth of a rhythmically insistent bear. His use of dynamics was subtle but insistent, allowing a relatively quiet number like "Bring It On Home" to simmer with an unshakable air of drama and danger.
These two albums appeared after his death in 1965 and cemented his reputation for subsequent generations of blues musicians. Williamson's influence was also key to the development of the various British blues bands in the '60s (The Yardbirds, John Mayall, etc.).