[Harp-L] tweaking harps and lost in the blues

[SONNYTONE@xxxxxxx]

One of the fellow harpers asked me if Sonny tweaked his harps. I had to  
chuckle as Sonny probably would, he was Blind!!! Number one the harps were made  
completely differently back then, and Little Walter could just flat out play 
the  snot out of the harp because he lived it. Really hard to pull up in your 
Porsche  and play some blues that will make people cry cause they can feel the 
harp  player's pain in his music. More than technical ability alone, anyone 
that knows  about the blues knows the best compliment is when someone in the club 
comes up  to you and says, "I really felt what you were playing", versus, 
gee, your  overblow on the 6 in conjunction with the blah blah was superb..... 
You get the  drift. Guys are taking blues to another place which is evolution 
and great,  but it's still whether or not you feel them, bottom line. Big Walter 
had that  effect on me along with many greats, but for one fat note, he and 
LW did it for  me. Sonny took it to a different feel, time and place with his 
notes, you could  feel the south in his playing and roots, others you could 
feel where they were  from, or had been. For the younger players, there was just 
something about  learning or just hanging and shooting the breeze with guys 
like Lightning  Hopkins, Roosevelt Sykes, and many others guys from our 
generation got to be  with, that was special. Living in the times they grew up in, 
going through the  discrimination, the racial hatred, yet still prevailing and 
getting to do what  they loved, knowing it could be pulled out from them at any  
time, made  them special performers and people. Always show much respect to 
those that made  it possible for us white boys to be lost in the blues. Sonny 
Jr.