Sonny Boy Williamson II - Bring it on Home

For my first review, I'm going to look at "Bring it on Home" which is a beautiful example of the blues harp in action. The interplay between the vocal and harp brings out the best in both of them. For anyone seriously considering playing blues harp, listening to this recording is a must.

The first thing to remember when listening to Sonny Boy is that he plays the harmonica AND sings. Obviously it is not possible to do both these things at the same time, and so the overall layout of the piece is in a "question and answer" style. Each line Sonny Boy sings is answered by a harp riff; complementing the vocal line. This is a common device in blues. When Williamson sings the line "Baby", he is answered by the plaintive wail of the harp, echoing "baby". The technique is simple, but the execution is perfect. Not only does the harmonica cry out "baby", but it does it in such a way that what we hear is a train whistle in the distance. From this point, each line is answered with a series of staccato 'chugs', as the illusion of the train is kept going.

When I say the piece is simple, don't fall in to the trap of thinking it would be easy to play. Williamson was a master of his craft and the performance here was perfect, a fact underlined by the haunting tremelo effect used as the music fades out. For my money, this is one of the best pieces of blues harp you'll find anywhere.

For more information on Sonnyboy (including a video clip), try Sonny Boy's Lonesome Cabin.