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:

Cause of Death:

Heart attack

Cemetery Name:

Whitfield Church Cemetery

Claim to Fame:

Music

Associates:

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.