Sonny Boy Williamson II

Helena/West Memphis

1912 – 1965

Few figures are more closely tied to the sound and mythology of the Arkansas Delta than Sonny Boy Williamson II. Born Aleck Miller in Mississippi, Williamson deliberately obscured the details of his early life, leaving behind conflicting stories about his name, age, and history. What is certain is that by the early 1940s, Helena, Arkansas, had become the place where his music reached a mass audience and where he emerged as one of the defining figures of Delta blues.

In 1941, Williamson and guitarist Robert Lockwood Jr. became the original musical stars of King Biscuit Time on Helena radio station KFFA. Sponsored by the Interstate Grocery Company, the daily program carried live blues across Arkansas and deep into the surrounding Mississippi Delta. Its reach was enormous. Williamson became so closely identified with the program that the sponsor marketed Sonny Boy Corn Meal bearing his image, while musicians and listeners throughout the region tuned in to hear his amplified harmonica, sly vocals, and unmistakable personality.

His recording career began later, with classics including “Eyesight to the Blind,” “Nine Below Zero,” “Don’t Start Me to Talkin’,” and “Your Funeral and My Trial.” His dry wit, conversational singing, and commanding harmonica style made him one of the instrument’s great innovators. By the 1960s, Williamson was touring Europe, performing alongside younger British musicians such as the Yardbirds and the Animals, many of whom had learned the blues from records made by artists like him.

Yet Williamson returned to Helena near the end of his life and once again appeared on King Biscuit Time. His connection to the city was more than incidental. Helena was where radio amplified a traveling Delta bluesman into a regional star and helped create one of the most enduring traditions in American blues.