WILLIAMSON, JOHN LEE

WILLIAMSON, JOHNLEE (“SONNYBOYWILLIAMSON NO. 1.”)Bluesman (30 March 1914 in Jackson, Tennessee; 1 June 1948 in Chicago, Illinois). He taught himself blues harmonica as a child and played for local social entertainments in the Memphis, Tennessee, area at an early age. During the 1930s he moved to Chicago, Illinois, where despite his youth he soon established himself as one of the leading Chicago bluesmen, along with William Lee Conley (“Big Bill”) Broonzy. He first recorded in 1937; thereafter…