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Paul Lamb, Joe Filisko and Adam Sikora join me on episode 125, for a retrospective on one of the legends of the diatonic harmonica, Sonny Terry, whose real name was Saunders Terrell.
Sonny was born in 1911 (or 1912), in Greensboro, Georgia (or it could have been North Carolina). Growing up on a farm in a rural community, Sonny was left blind by two accidents in his youth. Unable to work on the farm he turned to music, with his harmonica playing father giving him his early lessons.
Sonny first rose to prominence playing with Blind Boy Fuller, and then made a splash by performing at Carnegie Hall in 1938 as part of the ‘From Spirituals To Swing’ concert.
A few years later he formed probably the most famous blues duo ever, with Brownie McGhee. Sonny and Brownie made their name in the New York Folk scene and went on to play together for forty years, travelling the world, with many festival appearances, on Broadway, in movies and countless albums together. Sonny also played solo and with many other notable musicians besides Brownie, including an album with Johnny Winter towards the end of his life.
We look into Sonny’s style of playing and talk about how his rhythmical work is essential study in getting your own harmonica chops together.
Links:
Sonny Terry Estate items for sale:
https://bluemoonharmonicas.com/collections/sonny-terry-estate-llc
Paul Lamb: http://paullamb.com/
Joe Filisko: https://www.filiskostore.com/
Adam Sikora: https://jukejointsmokers.com/
http://www.the-archivist.co.uk/rare-early-blues-harp-recordings-by-singers-and-sidemen-introduced-by-joe-filisko/
Videos:
American Folk Blues Festival, Hootin’ The Blues:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtO7cctW1uI
Sonny and Woody Guthrie postage stamps playing Lost John:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4ldxb0iGHc
Sonny and Brownie in one of their last concerts, 1980:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzDNhA5irc8
Sonny and Brownie playing on The Jerk, Steve Martin movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeDgOUoDTsY
Podcast website:
https://www.harmonicahappyhour.com
Donations:
If you want to make a voluntary donation to help support the running costs of the podcast then please use this link (or visit the podcast website link above):
https://paypal.me/harmonicahappyhour?locale.x=en_GB
Spotify Playlist:
Also check out the Spotify Playlist, which contains most of the songs discussed in the podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QC6RF2VTfs4iPuasJBqwT?si=M-j3IkiISeefhR7ybm9qIQ
Podcast sponsors:
This podcast is sponsored by SEYDEL harmonicas - visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seydel1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram at SEYDEL HARMONICAS
--------------------------------
Blue Moon Harmonicas: https://bluemoonharmonicas.com
Chapters
1. Sonny Terry retrospective with Paul Lamb, Joe Filisko and Adam Sikora (00:00:00)
2. Paul Lamb, Adam Sakori and Joe Filisko join me on the 125th episode to discuss Sonny Terry (00:01:58)
3. Paul Lamb was the guest on the very first episode, in April 2020, and he met Sonny Terry and did some playing with him (00:02:19)
4. Joe Filisko was on episode six of the podcast. Joe is a specialist in early styles of harmonica (00:03:08)
5. Adam Sakori is originally from Poland, growing up in Berlin (00:04:07)
6. Adam plays with the Juke Joint Smokers (00:04:49)
7. Sonny was born on October 24th, 1911. Although there is some doubt about the date (00:05:05)
8. Sonny was probably born in Greensboro, Georgia, although there are reports that he was born in North Carolina (00:05:27)
9. What is clear is that Sonny grew up on a farm (00:06:04)
10. Was reported to be from a family of ten children (00:06:19)
11. Sonny had two separate accidents as child, losing sight in one eye age 11, and sight in the second eye age 16 (00:06:43)
12. Had partial sight in one eye (00:07:39)
13. Losing his sight meant he couldn’t work on the farm so turned to music (00:09:00)
14. May have first picked up his father’s harmonica age five, although reported that he started playing properly age eight (00:09:17)
15. His harmonica playing father probably gave him his first instruction on how to play (00:10:13)
16. Sonny didn’t hear blues until he was eighteen years old and learnt folk music, reels and breakdowns on the harmonica (00:10:23)
17. Started playing harmonica on the farm, and then out with string bands and medicine shows age 18 and may have learnt some harmonica from Little John (00:11:25)
18. Probably heard first blues either on the radio or musicians busking on the street (00:11:55)
19. Early influences included Deford Bailey and Henry Whitter (00:12:31)
20. Henry Whitter was the first to record the fox chase and Sonny’s version probably drew from it heavily (00:13:14)
21. Adam thinks Sonny made have also been influenced by John Lee Williamson, who released his first recording six months before Sonny (00:14:32)
22. John Webb was another player to release early recordings (00:15:29)
23. Sonny brought a different style of playing in the 1930s, playing in a Piedmont style (00:15:50)
24. Paul thinks Sonny’s harmonica heroes were Noah Lewis, Peg Leg Sam and Deford Bailey (00:16:22)
25. Sonny started performing with Blind Boy Fuller in the early 1930s, recording their first track together in 1937 (00:17:04)
26. Sonny developed his whooping and hollering to be heard when he was busking on the street (00:18:25)
27. Sonny also worked with other blind blues musicians (00:18:49)
28. Blind Boy Fuller was a big recording star at the time Sonny joined him, which helped Sonny’s career (00:19:11)
29. Sonny had a big break when he was invited to play at the ‘From Spirituals To Swing’ concert at Carnegie Hall in 1938, bringing black music to a white audience (00:19:23)
30. Blind Boy Fuller was supposed to be playing in the 1938 Carnegie Hall concert, but was (possibly) arrested and Sonny took his place (00:20:13)
31. Robert Johnson was originally lined-up for the Carnegie Hall concert, but he couldn’t make it (00:21:15)
32. Two recordings of Sonny playing the From Spirituals To Swing concert are available (00:21:41)
33. Carnegie Hall concert allowed Sonny to break into the New York folk scene and Sonny lived in New York for the rest of his life (00:22:36)
34. Sonny played in the Piedmont style and Paul was influenced by Sonny playing this style, rather than Chicago blues players (00:22:54)
35. Partnership with Brownie McGhee started when they first met in 1939 and started playing as a duo in 1940 (00:24:22)
36. Brownie had polio when young and as a result walked with a limp (00:24:57)
37. Sonny replaced Jordan Webb as the harmonica player with Brownie, although both Sonny and Jordan appeared on a small number of recordings together (00:25:57)
38. Sonny and Brownie became a permanent duo from 1942 and went on to play together for almost another forty years (00:26:24)
39. Sonny and Brownie became staples on the New York folk scene (00:26:58)
40. The New York folk scene included political protest, with Larry Adler also involved (00:27:42)
41. Sonny and Brownie did some protest songs as part of the Folk movement, with Brownie a good songwriter (00:28:26)
42. Recording of Lost John with with Woody Guthrie (00:29:15)
43. The Folk scene propelled Sonny and Brownie to fame (00:29:40)
44. Sonny and Brownie used to keep it quite loose and play off each other, not too rehearsed (00:30:19)
45. Sonny performed a song in a Broadway show, Finian’s Rainbow, from 1947-48, and the story of Sonny agreeing to play it the same way every night (00:31:08)
46. Sonny and Brownie performed in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof in the 1950s (00:32:34)
47. 1952 album: Sonny Terry Harmonica and Vocal solos (00:32:44)
48. Sonny Terry and His Washboard Band is one of Adam’s favourite albums and Adam plans to create a band with himself, washboard, single string bass and bones (00:33:20)
49. Toured around the world with Brownie (00:34:18)
50. 1958 album Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee Sing which Paul studied deeply (00:34:45)
51. Sonny and Brownie also record an album with Big Bill Broonzy (00:36:16)
52. Sonny played a concert with Pete Seeger at Carnegie Hall in 1958, further illustrating Sonny’s connection into the Folk scene (00:36:58)
53. In 1958 Sonny and Brownie toured the UK with the Chris Barber Jazz band, which exposed them to a British audience laying the bedrock for the British Blues boom of the 1960s (00:38:04)
54. Sonny and Brownie were popular with audiences because they were entertaining (00:39:09)
55. Sonny and Brownie took part in the American Folk and Blues festivals in Europe (00:39:48)
56. Sonny and Brownie were regulars on the festival circuit, including playing at the first Newport Folk Festival in 1959 (00:41:21)
57. Sonny had the ability to play unaccompanied, which not many other harmonica players can (00:41:58)
58. Sonny and Brownie performed in the Broadway production of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof and they were at their pinnacle through the 1950s and 60s (00:42:51)
59. Some great albums released through the 1960s, including Sonny’s Story (00:44:14)
60. Recorded an album with Lightning Hopkins (00:44:47)
61. Sonny Is King is another great album from the 1960s, where he does his ‘I Want My Mama’ talking harmonica ‘trick’ and earlier recordings of this from other players (00:45:05)
62. Sonny and Brownie sometimes played as part of a full band together, which they may have done at the request of the record company (00:47:05)
63. Drinkin’ In The Blues is an example of the tension that could exist on stage between Sonny and Brownie (00:48:16)
64. Paul tells of times he saw tension between Sonny and Brownie (00:50:51)
65. Paul addresses the accusation that Sonny played the same licks a lot of the time as that was his style, and all the early players were the same, and it brought them success (00:51:17)
66. Little Walter broke the mould by not playing the same stock licks (00:52:28)
67. The breakdown in the relationship between Sonny and Brownie led to them playing less together in the mid-1970s and their last concert together may have been in 1981 (00:53:16)
68. Guitarist Johnny Winter recorded an album with Sonny in 1984, with Johnny wanting to bring some exposure back on Sonny (00:55:00)
69. Paul says Johnny Winter wanted to put a Chicago style backing behind Sonny, something which Brownie never did (00:55:50)
70. Sonny Terry died on March 11, 1986, age 74, in Queens, New York (00:57:22)
71. Sonny recorded in the film Crossroads, performing with Ry Cooder, and Paul has a picture of Sonny playing with Ry Cooder shortly before Sonny died (00:57:39)
72. Sonny was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1986 (the year he died) (00:58:22)
73. In 1998 Sonny was featured on a US postage stamp, meaning he had more licks than any other harmonica player! (00:58:27)
74. Sonny’s vocals, and how the whooping, hollering and falsetto probably came from his street performing when young (00:59:18)
75. Although many people think Brownie had the better voice, Paul thinks Sonny had a beautiful, honest sounding voice (01:01:41)
76. Sonny and Brownie released a huge amount of albums, and Chris Smith published a complete discography in 1999 entitled “That’s The Stuff - The recordings of Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Sticks McGhee and JC Burris” (01:02:39)
77. Sonny’s style of harmonica is based on a wide array of rhythmical playing and his ability to play unaccompanied (01:03:46)
78. Adam’s admires Sonny’s rhythm, tone, including the tone of his chords (01:05:33)
79. Joe challenges every harmonica player to learn a chordal groove in Sonny’s style (01:06:00)
80. Various movie appearances with Sonny playing harmonica, include: The Jerk with Steve Martin, The Colour Purple, The Book of Numbers, and more (01:07:08)
81. In 1982 Sonny and Brownie both received a National Heritage Fellowship awarded by National Endowment for the Arts (01:07:38)
82. Adam’s favourite song is Sonny’s Squall from the Midnight Special album (01:08:01)
83. Joe picks out three of his favourite Sonny songs, including Lost John with Woody Guthrie (01:08:40)
84. Some of Paul’s favourite songs are Down By The Riverside and Blowin’ The Fuses (01:11:28)
85. Sonny mainly played Hohner Marine Bands and Golden Melodies (01:12:24)
86. Unlikely Sonny had his harmonicas customised but his bottom octave chord sounded in tune on the Golden Melodies, which may suggest otherwise (01:12:57)
87. Sonny could just make a stock harmonica work to how he wanted it to sound (01:14:22)
88. Sonny liked the low range of standard diatonic harmonicas, mainly playing on keys A, Bb, B and C (01:15:11)
89. The lower range of harmonicas used was probably because they work well for rhythmical playing, and also for his falsetto singing range (01:16:34)
90. Didn’t play any chromatic harmonica, although was photographed with one in a photoshoot, probably because you can see them in photos (01:17:04)
91. Sonny played some songs in straight harp with Brownie (01:17:23)
92. Embouchre, thought to be a pucker player but Joe hears a lot of tongue blocking, played in a unique way (01:18:01)
93. Paul demonstrates some embouchre techniques he used (01:18:21)
94. Joe talks about Sonny’s use of ‘tongue shakes’ (01:18:53)
95. Mainly used tongue blocking as part of his rhythm playing (01:19:46)
96. Mainly played through a vocal mic, but started cupping the mic later in career as Brownie started using an amp (01:20:20)
97. Did some recordings through an amp but he played the same as his acoustic style, so didn’t sound much different (01:20:42)
98. Sonny did play through an amplifier on a few tracks (01:21:31)
99. Sonny didn’t use effects pedals but Joe thinks he was the best player at summoning his own effects straight out of the harmonica (01:22:45)
100. Made great use of hand effects (01:23:18)
101. Sonny’s influence on Adam (01:24:36)
102. Paul Lamb was also an inspiration to Adam (and me!) (01:25:04)
103. Sonny’s influence on Paul and he considers Sonny to be the greatest (01:25:47)
104. Joe pays credit to Adam and Paul’s harmonica contributions (01:26:45)
105. Joe’s final words on Sonny and his influence and Joe also thinks Sonny was the greatest diatonic player ever (01:27:05)
106. Joe advocates putting the time in to work on Sonny’s rhythm playing (01:27:44)
107. Paul says working on Sonny's groove will open the door in your playing (01:30:03)
137 episodes
