Music Path

John Lee Curtis “Sonny Boy” Williamson grew up in Jackson, TN. He introduced the harmonica as a solo instrument for blues performers and electrified its sound with a $200 public address amplifier. Billy Boy Arnold met Sonny Boy and asked him to teach him to play the harmonica. Before Sonny Boy was killed in Chicago, he taught the eleven year old Bill Boy to play, bending notes and inhaling through the instrument to provide breath to sing and play simultaneously. Billy Boy relates his memories, his visits to Sonny Boy’s house and beginning a life-long career and a blues harmonica player himself.