Sonny Boy Williamson
Down and Out Blues

THE REVIEW

In 1941, Aleck "Rice" Miller, teamed up with the trusty guitarist Robert Lockwood Jr. (also featured on this album), began broadcasting a short blues musical interlude (sponsored by a flour company) called "King Biscuit Time" from a radio station in Helena, Arkansas. The program's sponsor started calling Miller by the name of the then much more famous Sonny Boy Williamson, also an extraordinary harmonica player. From then on, under the name Sonny Boy Williamson (II), he became very popular (the Roman numeral was added much later to distinguish him from the first Sonny Boy).
However, not much is known about Williamson, except that he taught Howlin' Wolf to play the harmonica during the brief period he stayed at Howlin' Wolf's sister's house. But there aren't the "classic" anecdotes between legend and truth that permeate the history of the blues, so much so that even his closest friends knew little about his personal life.
So let's let the music speak and turn to "Down and Out Blues", Williamson's first album, which, as often happened then, is just a collection of recordings made between 1955 and '58. It must be said that this is one of the seminal albums of electric blues.
Sonny Boy claimed: "Everybody talks, but few people know." Hence, "Don't Start Me Talkin" (recorded in '55) opens the album. It's a track with a rock-like style and sarcastic singing (quite typical of Williamson) with a final reserved for a thrilling harmonica solo; the piece would become a blues classic.
Intense is "All My Love In Vain" (again from '55), the song is interspersed with brief harmonica bits alternating with the singing. The sound is expressive, rich in reverberation and powerful. Miller himself claimed he sold his soul to the devil so he wouldn't have to breathe during his harmonica runs. Another delight is the wavy and sinuous slow song "Cross My Heart" from '57, contrasted by Sonny Boy's voice that powerfully enunciates the words and is direct and no-frills, far from mellifluous. Yet again, needless to say, all is enhanced by an ecstatic harmonica solo.
Besides the described tracks, the album is full of what will become blues classics. I will limit myself to mentioning my favorites: "The Key (To Your Door)", "Your Funeral And My Trial", "Fattening Frogs And Snakes", and "Let Me Explain".
Two mentions, one for the various sidemen who, besides the already mentioned Robert Lockwood Jr., include: bassist and blues gray eminence Willie Dixon, guitarists Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rogers, and Luther Tucker, pianist Otis Spann, and on drums the indomitable Fred Below.
The other mention (purely aesthetic) goes to one of the most intense blues album covers of all time.
I close by paraphrasing Williamson: many people hear, few listen, and if you really want to listen to great blues, this album is for you.