Alex or Aleck Miller (originally Ford, possibly December 5, 1912 – May 24, 1965), later known as Sonny Boy Williamson, was an American blues musician who played the harmonica, sang, and wrote songs. He was an important early blues harp player who recorded music successfully in the 1950s and 1960s. Miller used different names, such as Rice Miller and Little Boy Blue, before choosing the name Sonny Boy Williamson, which was also used by another popular Chicago blues singer and harmonica player. To avoid confusion, Miller was called Sonny Boy Williamson II.

He first recorded with Elmore James on the song "Dust My Broom." Some of his well-known songs include "Don't Start Me Talkin'," "Help Me," "Checkin' Up on My Baby," and "Bring It On Home." He performed in Europe with the American Folk Blues Festival and recorded music with English rock musicians, such as the Yardbirds and Animals. The song "Help Me" became a classic blues song, and many blues and rock artists have performed his songs.

Biography

Miller’s date and place of birth are not certain. Different sources suggest he was born in 1897, 1899, 1908, 1909, or 1912. David Evans, a music professor and expert in cultural music studies at the University of Memphis, says census records from 1920 show Miller was about seven years old, which would place his birth around 1912. A gravestone in Tutwiler, Mississippi, set up by Lillian McMurry, a record company owner, twelve years after his death, lists his birth as March 11, 1908. In a spoken word performance titled “The Story of Sonny Boy Williamson,” Miller claimed he was born in Glendora, Mississippi, in 1897. Researchers Bob Eagle and Eric S. LeBlanc say he was born in Money, near Greenwood, Mississippi, in 1912.

Miller lived with his stepfather, Jim Miller, and mother, Millie Ford, until the early 1930s. From the 1930s onward, he traveled across Mississippi and Arkansas, meeting musicians like Big Joe Williams, Elmore James, and Robert Lockwood Jr., who later played guitar on his recordings. He also worked with Robert Johnson during this time. Miller developed his musical style and unique stage image during these years. Willie Dixon remembered seeing Lockwood and Miller perform for tips in Greenville, Mississippi, in the 1930s. Miller entertained audiences with tricks, such as playing a harmonica with one end in his mouth and no hands. He was often called “Rice” Miller, a nickname from his love of rice and milk, or “Little Boy Blue.”

In 1941, Miller was hired to perform on the King Biscuit Time radio show, which advertised King Biscuit flour on KFFA in Helena, Arkansas, with Lockwood. The show’s sponsor, Max Moore, began calling Miller “Sonny Boy Williamson,” likely to connect him to the famous Chicago-based musician of the same name, John Lee Curtis Williamson, who died in 1948. Although John Lee Williamson was a well-known blues artist who used the name “Sonny Boy Williamson” since 1937, Miller later claimed he was the first to use it. Some experts believe Miller’s claim to have been born in 1899 was an attempt to appear older than John Lee Williamson, who was born in 1914.

While in Clarksdale, Miller stayed at the Riverside Hotel. A 13-year-old Ike Turner played piano for him during local performances.

In 1949, Miller moved to West Memphis, Arkansas, and lived with Howlin’ Wolf. He later created a song parodying Howlin’ Wolf called “Like Wolf.” Miller started a radio show on KWEM from 1948 to 1950, promoting a product called Hadacol. He invited his King Biscuit musician friends, including Elmore James and Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, to perform on his show. Miller married Howlin’ Wolf’s half-sister, Maggy, and taught Wolf how to play the harmonica.

Miller’s first recordings were made in 1951 for Lillian McMurry of Trumpet Records in Jackson, Mississippi. This was three years after John Lee Williamson’s death, which allowed Miller to claim he was “the one and only Sonny Boy Williamson.” When Trumpet Records went out of business in 1955, Miller’s contract was sold to Chess Records in Chicago. He gained popularity in Chicago starting in 1953, when he joined Elmore James’s band. During his time with Chess Records, he recorded about 70 songs for Checker Records from 1955 to 1964. His first LP, Down and Out Blues, was released in 1959 as a collection of earlier singles. A single, “Boppin’ with Sonny” backed by “No Nights by Myself,” was released by Ace Records in 1955.

In 1972, Chess Records released This Is My Story, a compilation of Miller’s recordings. The album was later included in Robert Christgau’s “basic record library” of 1950s and 1960s music, published in Christgau’s Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981).

In the early 1960s, Miller toured Europe during the British blues craze, performing with bands like the Yardbirds and the Animals. He was quoted saying, “those British boys want to play the blues real bad, and they do.” In 1963, while in London, he recorded two songs live for a TV show called Hullabaloo, hosted by Rory McEwen. These recordings were released on DVD in 2020.

Miller enjoyed the support of European fans and had a custom-made two-tone suit, bowler hat, umbrella, and attaché case for his harmonicas. He was credited as “Big Skol” on Roland Kirk’s live album Kirk in Copenhagen (1963).

After returning to the U.S., Miller resumed performing on the King Biscuit Time show on KFFA. On May 25, 1965, as fellow musicians waited for him at the KFFA studios, he was found dead in his room at a boarding house, likely from a heart attack. Miller is buried near Tutwiler, Mississippi, at the former Whitfield Baptist Church Cemetery on Prairie Place Road. Lillian McMurry, owner of Trumpet Records, placed a headstone with an incorrect date of death.

Naming

John Lee Williamson made recordings from 1937 until his death in 1948. Rice Miller made recordings from 1951 to 1964. Both musicians originally released their music under the name Sonny Boy Williamson. Miller used the name to tell audiences and his first record label that he was the "original" Sonny Boy. To help people tell the two musicians apart, experts and writers refer to John Lee Williamson (1914–1948) as "Sonny Boy Williamson I" or "the original Sonny Boy" and call Miller (circa 1912–1965) "Sonny Boy Williamson II."

Discography

• Down and Out Blues (Chess, 1959)
• A Portrait in Blues (Storyville, 1963)
• The Blues of Sonny Boy Williamson (Storyville, 1963)
• Sonny Boy Williamson and Memphis Slim (Disques Vogue, 1964)
• Sonny Boy Williamson and the Yardbirds (Fontana TL-5277, 1965)
• The Real Folk Blues (Chess, 1957-64 [1966])
• More Real Folk Blues (Chess, 1967)
• Don't Send Me No Flowers (Marmalade, 1965 [1968]) with Brian Auger, Jimmy Page
• Bummer Road (Chess, 1969)
• King Biscuit Time (Arhoolie, 1970)
• Sonny Boy Williamson and the Animals (Faces & Places, Vol. 2) (BYG 529.902, 1972)
• One Way Out (Chess, 1975)

• "Eyesight to the Blind" / "Crazy About You Baby" (Trumpet 129, 2/51)
• "Do It if You Wanta" / "Cool, Cool Blues" (Trumpet 139, 9/51)
• "Sonny Boy's Christmas Blues" / "Pontiac Blues" (Trumpet 145, 11/51)
• "Stop Crying" / "Come on Back Home" (Trumpet 140, 3/52) as 'Sonny Boy Williamson, His Harmonica and House Rockers'
• "Stop Now Baby" / "Mr. Downchild" (Trumpet 168, 8/52) as 'Sonny Boy Williamson, His Harmonica and House Rockers'
• "Nine Below Zero" / "Mighty Long Time" (Trumpet 166, 2/53)
• "I Cross My Heart" / "West Memphis Blues" (Trumpet 144, 8/53) as 'Sonny Boy Williamson, His Harmonica and House Rockers'
• "Too Close Together" / "Cat Hop" (Trumpet 212, 12/53)
• "Going in Your Direction" / "Red Hot Kisses" (Trumpet 216, 4/54)
• "She Brought Life Back to the Dead" / "Gettin' Out of Town" (Trumpet 215, 7/54)
• "From the Bottom" / "Empty Bedroom" (Trumpet 228, 2/55)
• "No Nights by Myself" / "Boppin' with Sonny" (Ace 511, 1955)
• "Don't Start Me Talkin'" / "All My Love in Vain" (Checker 824, 1955)
• "Let Me Explain" / "Your Imagination" (Checker 834, 1956)
• "Keep It to Yourself" / "The Key (To Your Door)" (Checker 847, 1956)
• "Fattening Frogs for Snakes" / "I Don't Know" (Checker 864, 1957)
• "Born Blind" / "Ninety-Nine" (Checker 883, 1958)
• "Your Funeral and My Trial" / "Wake Up, Baby" (Checker 894, 1958)
• "Cross My Heart" / "Dissatisfied" (Checker 910, 1958)
• "Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide" / "Unseeing Eye" (Checker 927, 1959)
• "The Goat" / "It's Sad to Be Alone" (Checker 943, 1960)
• "Lonesome Cabin" / "Temperature 110" (Checker 956, 1960)
• "Trust My Baby" / "Too Close Together" (Checker 963, 1960)
• "Stop Right Now" / "The Hunt" (Checker 975, 1961)
• "The Hunt" / "Little Village" (Checker 975, 1961) re-release
• "One Way Out" / "Nine Below Zero" (Checker 1003, 1962)
• "Help Me" / "Bye Bye Bird" (Checker 1036, 1963)
• "Trying to Get Back on My Feet" / "Decoration Day" (Checker 1065, 1963)
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