[Harp-L] Sonny Terry matters.....

["Tom Ellis" <tomsmics@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

There is no way to over-estimate the incredible importance of Sonny Terry to the harmonica tradition here in the US and abroad.  In the late '50s and early '60s, when the folk music scene exploded in the US and England, both on recordings and in concert and festival appearances, Sonny and Brownie were the leading guys out there, and Sonny was considered the king of the instrument. 

Although we like to think of the Walters and the other great players of the fifties as bigger than life figures, they were hardly on the same playing field as Sonny.  His fame was international when few outside of Chicago knew who Little or Big Walter were.  There can be no doubt that the major growth of harmonica playing in the US came as a result of people seeing and hearing Sonny and Brownie;  only later would they discover the Chicago guys.  

Even though he lived just blocks from the blues clubs in Hyde Park, and a few miles from Chicago's Southside, it was Sonny Terry who first inspired Butter to pick up the instrument, and his first "group" was a duet patterned after his idol. I'm sure if you talked to many of the other players who were first turned onto music in the late fifties--from Sebastian to Tony Glover--you'd find them falling into the same category.  

In addition, his playing is nothing if not challenging to master.  We're lucky we have Gary Onofrio and Tom Ball around to help us all through the challenge....TOM ELLIS/Tom's Mics