Sonny Boy Williamson II

AKA:
Rice Miller
Birth Name:
Alex Miller
Birth Date:
December 5, 1912
Birth Place:
Greenwood, Mississippi
Death Date:
May 24, 1965
Place of Death:
427 1/2 Elm Street, Helena, Arkansas
Age:
52
Cause of Death:
Heart attack
Cemetery Name:
Whitfield Church Cemetery
Claim to Fame:
Music
Sonny Boy Williamson II was one of the most influential harmonica players in blues history. Often compared to Little Walter and John Lee Williamson (aka Sonny Boy Williamson I), Sonny Boy Williamson II was a legendary blues character whose colorful personality, superb musicianship, unpredictable actions and frequent stretching of the truth only served to enliven his blues with a warm eccentricity. He first recorded with Elmore James on "Dust My Broom". Some of his popular songs include "Don't Start Me Talkin'", "Help Me", "Checkin' Up on My Baby", and "Bring It On Home". He toured Europe with the American Folk Blues Festival and recorded with English rock musicians, including the Yardbirds, the Animals. "Help Me" became a blues standard, and many blues and rock artists have recorded his songs.

Fun Facts

Bluesman Frank Lippman recounted how he was shocked at the volume of alcohol Sonny Boy drank. But as he remembered, “but after awhile, I understood that he needed his bottle of whiskey and then he would perform perfectly. I only had a problem one time. He was drinking two or three bottles and he didn’t want to leave the stage.”

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Whitfield Church Cemetery

Prairie Road

Tutwiler, Mississippi, 38963

USA

North America

Grave Location:

Sonny Boy Williamson Plot

Grave Location Description

From downtown Tutwiler, Mississippi from Second Street drive 0.4 miles out of town to the fork in the road (there is an above-ground gas meter on your right). Turn right and drive 1.0 mile to the intersection of Prairie and Gibbons. Stay to your right on Prairie and drive 0.5 miles to the former site of the Whitfield Baptist Church (it has since burned down and removed) on your right. Park to the side of the road and look into the tree line and about 100 feet from the road you will see a small scattering of tombstones. The one in the back is the final resting place of blues legend Sonny Boy Williamson II.

Grave Location GPS

34.01848633804, -90.4577317354

Visiting The Grave:

Photos:

[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]

Read More About Sonny Boy Williamson II:

Videos Featuring Sonny Boy Williamson II:

See More:

Furry Lewis

popular name: Furry Lewis

date_of_death: September 14, 1981

age: 88

cause_of_death: Heart failure

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: A notable guitarist in both the bottleneck and finger-picking styles, Furry was a country blues guitarist and songwriter from Memphis, Tennessee whose greatest productivity came late in life during the folk blues revival of the 1960s.

Albert King

popular name: Albert King

date_of_death: December 21, 1992

age: 69

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Standing at six-foot-four, 300-pounds King was able to bend notes farther and more powerfully than almost any other guitarist, and his records influenced a generation bluesman from Eric Clapton to Duane Allman and, of course, Stevie Ray Vaughn.

Dick Dale

popular name: Dick Dale

date_of_death: March 16, 2019

age: 81

cause_of_death: Heart and kidney failure

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Dick Dale was an American rock guitarist. He was the pioneer of surf music, drawing on Middle Eastern music scales and experimenting with reverb. Dale was known as "The King of the Surf Guitar", which was also the title of his second studio album. Dale was one of the most influential guitarists of all time and especially of the early 1960s. Most of the leading bands in surf music, such as The Beach Boys, Jan and Dean and The Trashmen, were influenced by Dale's music, and often included recordings of Dale's songs in their albums. His style and music influenced guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townshend, Eddie Van Halen and Brian May. He has been mentioned as one of the fathers of heavy metal. Many credit him with tremolo picking, a technique that is now widely used in many musical genres (such as extreme metal, folk etc.). His speedy single-note staccato picking technique was unmatched until guitarists like Eddie Van Halen entered the music scene.

Back to Top