(November 2025) Episode 693 of the “opus project” is SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON II, a harmonica-playing blues musician in the Chicago Blues mode whose career included playing with both Robert Johnson and Jimmy Page. Born as Alex Ford but at the urging of his sponsor he performed under the name of an older bluesman Sonny Boy Williamson and (perjuriously IMO) kept it, so is thus identified in the literature as SBW II. Based on his recordings in the 1950s-60s, this is what many people will hear as standard blues, historicism aside. He toured Europe several times, helping popularize the genre there.

Favorite album: The Real Folk Blues

Favorite song: Bring It On Home

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: The Essential Sonny Boy Williamson is a good two-disc compilation.

(August 2025) Episode 671 is SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON. This is John Lee Curtis Williamson, now known to historians as Sonny Boy Williamson I to distinguish from a contemporary who used the same name.  He’s known for popularizing the harmonica (blues harp) as an essential blues instrument. His recording career in the 1930s and 40s was relatively short due to his murder at a young age. But it’s a solid collection of Chicago-style blues punctuated by his harmonica skills.

Favorite song: Good Morning Little School Girl

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: A classic acoustic blues sound.

(July 2025) Episode 661 is ELMORE JAMES. A blues legend known as “King of the Slide Guitar” and for loud amplification of his guitar. Traveling a well-worn blues trail from Mississippi to Chicago, his recordings were in the 1950s and early 1960s. If not for his early death in 1963, one figures his fame would have exploded in the 1960s blues revival.

Favorite song: Dust My Broom

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: Whose Muddy Shoes and Blues After Hours are good compilations of his songs.

(April 2025) Episode 644 is LIGHTNIN’ HOPKINS, Texas bluesman with a career that spanned from the 1920s to 1980s. Despite all the changes in the blues genre over that time, Hopkins remained consistent and loyal to his sound: just his guitar (acoustic or electric) and his earthy voice. I enjoy this style of stripped-down blues, but after dozens of albums, it can get repetitive.

Favorite album: Strums the Blues

Favorite song: Devil Is Watching You

Favorite instrumental song: Hopkins’ Sky Hop (inspiration for Stevie Ray Vaughn’s ‘Rude Mood’)

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: I prefer the early recording compilations from the 1940s-50s, but the consistency in his output means you can jump in most anywhere.

(January 2025) Episode 626 is SON HOUSE. Mississippi blues legend and contemporary of Charley Patton and Robert Johnson. His music is marked by an emotional voice and slashing guitar style, often in slide. He did a number of recordings in the 1930s and early 1940s, including for the Library of Congress, then retiring and returning to performance in the 1960s when “rediscovered” in the blues revival – a path similar to others. The quality of the early recordings seems better than those by many contemporaries.

Favorite album: The Legendary Son House: Father of Folk Blues

Favorite song: Death Letter Blues

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: You can’t go wrong with any of it. The album above is a good mix of early/later recordings. The Library of Congress sessions disc is also good.