Sonny Boy Williamson & Robert Lockwood c1942

[Alan Balfour]

A YouTube clip that you must see! No further words are needed, just
have a look ... Wonderful! What more could one want...except maybe the sound?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6v-hz3ER0c

"Max Moore, owner of Interstate Grocery in Helena, Arkansas, was the
sponsor for radio station KFFA's "King Biscuit Time" program. We believe
he shot this home movie circa 1942. In it, renowned blues musicians Robert
'Junior' Lockwood and Sonny Boy Williamson perform on the front porch of a
small-town Arkansas grocery store. This is likely the earliest footage of
these musicians performing together. The second portion of the clip is a
1952 tour featuring Williamson and his band. This film was preserved with
a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation. Max Moore Home
Movie Collection"

Later edit: I've been trawling the web trying to find anything half decent about SBWII on the net and only came up with these two rather ancient attempts:

http://www.sonnyboy.com/

http://www.mnblues.com/review/2002/sonn ... 02-cr.html

[Chris P]

So Sonny Boy II was young once - what a revelation! An amazing find, so sad there's no sound, but that would have been so good there might have been a health risk, so perhaps it's for the best after all ;)

[Adam Blake]

That's funny. I was just about to say - was Sonny Boy ever actually young? Then I saw your comment, Chris. He looks at least 40 to me - which would bear out his claims to have been born in the 19th C. I found that after staring at it for a while, I could almost hear the music they were playing. Spooky.

As Chris says, an amazing find, Alan. Thank you so much for posting. (The SBW websites look pretty cool too.)

[NormanD]

He looks at least 40 to me - which would bear out his claims to have been born in the 19th C

He's much younger than this, to me at least. Please bear in mind that the only people who looked young in the 40s were up on the silver screen, and even they looked old before their time. I'd go for late-20s for Sonny Boy.

Great film - colour stock too. Priceless!

[Adam Blake]

I'd go for late-20s for Sonny Boy.

Well he claimed to have been born in 1899. More sceptical biographers put it at 1912, which would make him 30 in 1942. Either way, he looks f**king great!

[john poole]

He's much younger than this, to me at least. Please bear in mind that the only people who looked young in the 40s were up on the silver screen, and even they looked old before their time. I'd go for late-20s for Sonny Boy.

Great film - colour stock too. Priceless!

Agreed about Sonny Boy's age (although he certainly looks like someone rather older than in his early 50s in the AFBF clips from 1963) and the film - I expected it might be in b&w and rather faded.

[john poole]

It seems that sixteen minutes of film exists in total (4 minutes from 1942; 12 minutes from 1952) - see final paragraph -
http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/south/EarlyWright.html

[Alan Balfour]

http://ourblues.wordpress.com/2012/04/2 ... me-talkin/

This appeared in my email so thought I'd add it here.

[NormanD]

‘And here’s something: the same day Sonny Boy died, his citizenship came through in London, England.’ It didn’t...

Has anyone else here seen the current test paper for UK Citizenship testing? I couldn't answer a load of them... Now, could you just imagine answering them in the style of Little Village?