RE: [Harp-L] Sonny Boy I and II history question

[Tom Ball <havaball@xxxxxxx>]

Although Alex Miller (SBW II) had sometimes been 
called "Sonny Boy" even as a youth, by most 
accounts he did not begin using the name 
Williamson until around 1942 when he landed the 
King Biscuit Flour Hour gig on KFFA in Helena, 
Arkansas. The sponsor, Max Moore of the 
Interstate Grocery Company, is usually given the 
credit/blame for the name appropriation, but 
Miller was obviously comfortable enough with it 
to go along. At the time John Lee Williamson (SBW 
I) was settled in Chicago and had been recording 
for five years. His records were popular down 
south, and evidently Moore and Miller were not 
above a bit of skullduggery to boost ratings for 
the radio show.

There is little question that John Lee (SB I) was 
aware Miller was impersonating him. On December 
18, 1947, in what would turn out to be his final 
recording session, John Lee and Big Joe Williams 
(together with Ransom Knowling on bass and Judge 
Riley on drums) recorded King Biscuit Stomp for 
Columbia Records. On it, Big Joe references the 
town of Helena and King Biscuit Flour, and 
proudly proclaims, "We're the King Biscuit Boys!"

In the film documentary Blues Story, Snooky Pryor 
had the following to say:  "Sonny Boy No. 2 was 
broadcastin' down in Helena, Arkansas, and usin' 
Sonny Boy Williamson's name. Sonny Boy No. 1 went 
from Chicago down to Helena, Arkansas, and took 
him off the air and stopped him from usin' his 
name. And later on, the company and them, they 
made a deal."

To this, blues historian Jim O'Neal adds, "Robert 
Lockwood remembered this episode very well and 
Houston Stackhouse told much the same story. 
Snooky Pryor was adamant about it. I never 
doubted that it happened, but all I have so far 
is the oral history (including a version from 
Sonny Boy No. 1's family.) I'm hoping to find 
more solid details."

Gérard Herzhaft's Encyclopédie du Blues (Seghers 
Editions, 1990) takes it a step further by 
asserting that John Lee Williamson, Big Joe 
Williams, and Walter Davis all supposedly armed 
themselves and headed off south to get Miller. 
Truth or mythical embellishment? Either way it 
makes a great story. And ironically, Miller's 
insistence upon the use of the name may have 
inadvertently impeded his efforts to record while 
John Lee Williamson was living -- Miller being 
unable to secure a contract until 1951, by which 
time John Lee Williamson had been murdered on the 
streets of Chicago.

--Tom Ball
http://www.tomball.us