Paul Lamb, Adam Sakori and Joe Filisko join me on the 125th episode to discuss Sonny Terry
Paul Lamb was the guest on the very first episode, in April 2020, and he met Sonny Terry and did some playing with him
Joe Filisko was on episode six of the podcast. Joe is a specialist in early styles of harmonica
Adam Sakori is originally from Poland, growing up in Berlin
Adam plays with the Juke Joint Smokers
Sonny was born on October 24th, 1911. Although there is some doubt about the date
Sonny was probably born in Greensboro, Georgia, although there are reports that he was born in North Carolina
What is clear is that Sonny grew up on a farm
Was reported to be from a family of ten children
Sonny had two separate accidents as child, losing sight in one eye age 11, and sight in the second eye age 16
Had partial sight in one eye
Losing his sight meant he couldn’t work on the farm so turned to music
May have first picked up his father’s harmonica age five, although reported that he started playing properly age eight
His harmonica playing father probably gave him his first instruction on how to play
Sonny didn’t hear blues until he was eighteen years old and learnt folk music, reels and breakdowns on the harmonica
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
Probably heard first blues either on the radio or musicians busking on the street
Early influences included Deford Bailey and Henry Whitter
Henry Whitter was the first to record the fox chase and Sonny’s version probably drew from it heavily
Adam thinks Sonny made have also been influenced by John Lee Williamson, who released his first recording six months before Sonny
John Webb was another player to release early recordings
Sonny brought a different style of playing in the 1930s, playing in a Piedmont style
Paul thinks Sonny’s harmonica heroes were Noah Lewis, Peg Leg Sam and Deford Bailey
Sonny started performing with Blind Boy Fuller in the early 1930s, recording their first track together in 1937
Sonny developed his whooping and hollering to be heard when he was busking on the street
Sonny also worked with other blind blues musicians
Blind Boy Fuller was a big recording star at the time Sonny joined him, which helped Sonny’s career
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
Blind Boy Fuller was supposed to be playing in the 1938 Carnegie Hall concert, but was (possibly) arrested and Sonny took his place
Robert Johnson was originally lined-up for the Carnegie Hall concert, but he couldn’t make it
Two recordings of Sonny playing the From Spirituals To Swing concert are available
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
Sonny played in the Piedmont style and Paul was influenced by Sonny playing this style, rather than Chicago blues players
Partnership with Brownie McGhee started when they first met in 1939 and started playing as a duo in 1940
Brownie had polio when young and as a result walked with a limp
Sonny replaced Jordan Webb as the harmonica player with Brownie, although both Sonny and Jordan appeared on a small number of recordings together
Sonny and Brownie became a permanent duo from 1942 and went on to play together for almost another forty years
Sonny and Brownie became staples on the New York folk scene
The New York folk scene included political protest, with Larry Adler also involved
Sonny and Brownie did some protest songs as part of the Folk movement, with Brownie a good songwriter
Recording of Lost John with with Woody Guthrie
The Folk scene propelled Sonny and Brownie to fame
Sonny and Brownie used to keep it quite loose and play off each other, not too rehearsed
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
Sonny and Brownie performed in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof in the 1950s
1952 album: Sonny Terry Harmonica and Vocal solos
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
Toured around the world with Brownie
1958 album Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee Sing which Paul studied deeply
Sonny and Brownie also record an album with Big Bill Broonzy
Sonny played a concert with Pete Seeger at Carnegie Hall in 1958, further illustrating Sonny’s connection into the Folk scene
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
Sonny and Brownie were popular with audiences because they were entertaining
Sonny and Brownie took part in the American Folk and Blues festivals in Europe
Sonny and Brownie were regulars on the festival circuit, including playing at the first Newport Folk Festival in 1959
Sonny had the ability to play unaccompanied, which not many other harmonica players can
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
Some great albums released through the 1960s, including Sonny’s Story
Recorded an album with Lightning Hopkins
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
Sonny and Brownie sometimes played as part of a full band together, which they may have done at the request of the record company
Drinkin’ In The Blues is an example of the tension that could exist on stage between Sonny and Brownie
Paul tells of times he saw tension between Sonny and Brownie
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
Little Walter broke the mould by not playing the same stock licks
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
Guitarist Johnny Winter recorded an album with Sonny in 1984, with Johnny wanting to bring some exposure back on Sonny
Paul says Johnny Winter wanted to put a Chicago style backing behind Sonny, something which Brownie never did
Sonny Terry died on March 11, 1986, age 74, in Queens, New York
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
Sonny was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1986 (the year he died)
In 1998 Sonny was featured on a US postage stamp, meaning he had more licks than any other harmonica player!
Sonny’s vocals, and how the whooping, hollering and falsetto probably came from his street performing when young
Although many people think Brownie had the better voice, Paul thinks Sonny had a beautiful, honest sounding voice
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”
Sonny’s style of harmonica is based on a wide array of rhythmical playing and his ability to play unaccompanied
Adam’s admires Sonny’s rhythm, tone, including the tone of his chords
Joe challenges every harmonica player to learn a chordal groove in Sonny’s style
Various movie appearances with Sonny playing harmonica, include: The Jerk with Steve Martin, The Colour Purple, The Book of Numbers, and more
In 1982 Sonny and Brownie both received a National Heritage Fellowship awarded by National Endowment for the Arts
Adam’s favourite song is Sonny’s Squall from the Midnight Special album
Joe picks out three of his favourite Sonny songs, including Lost John with Woody Guthrie
Some of Paul’s favourite songs are Down By The Riverside and Blowin’ The Fuses
Sonny mainly played Hohner Marine Bands and Golden Melodies
Unlikely Sonny had his harmonicas customised but his bottom octave chord sounded in tune on the Golden Melodies, which may suggest otherwise
Sonny could just make a stock harmonica work to how he wanted it to sound
Sonny liked the low range of standard diatonic harmonicas, mainly playing on keys A, Bb, B and C
The lower range of harmonicas used was probably because they work well for rhythmical playing, and also for his falsetto singing range
Didn’t play any chromatic harmonica, although was photographed with one in a photoshoot, probably because you can see them in photos
Sonny played some songs in straight harp with Brownie
Embouchre, thought to be a pucker player but Joe hears a lot of tongue blocking, played in a unique way
Paul demonstrates some embouchre techniques he used
Joe talks about Sonny’s use of ‘tongue shakes’
Mainly used tongue blocking as part of his rhythm playing
Mainly played through a vocal mic, but started cupping the mic later in career as Brownie started using an amp
Did some recordings through an amp but he played the same as his acoustic style, so didn’t sound much different
Sonny did play through an amplifier on a few tracks
Sonny didn’t use effects pedals but Joe thinks he was the best player at summoning his own effects straight out of the harmonica
Made great use of hand effects
Sonny’s influence on Adam
Paul Lamb was also an inspiration to Adam (and me!)
Sonny’s influence on Paul and he considers Sonny to be the greatest
Joe pays credit to Adam and Paul’s harmonica contributions
Joe’s final words on Sonny and his influence and Joe also thinks Sonny was the greatest diatonic player ever
Joe advocates putting the time in to work on Sonny’s rhythm playing
Paul says working on Sonny's groove will open the door in your playing
