He was popular among black audiences throughout the southern United States and in Midwestern industrial cities, such as Detroit and Chicago, and his name was synonymous with the blues harmonica for the next decade. Williamson first recorded in 1937, for Bluebird Records, and his first recording, ' Good Morning, School Girl', became a standard. While in his teens he joined Yank Rachell and Sleepy John Estes, playing with them in Tennessee and Arkansas. He has been called 'the father of modern blues harp'. His original recordings are in the country blues style, but he soon demonstrated skill at making the harmonica a lead instrument for the blues and popularized it for the first time in a more urban blues setting. Williamson was born in Madison County, Tennessee, near Jackson, in 1914.

In an attempt to capitalize on Williamson's fame, Aleck 'Rice' Miller began recording and performing as Sonny Boy Williamson in the early 1940s, and later, to distinguish the two, John Lee Williamson came to be known as Sonny Boy Williamson I or 'the original Sonny Boy'. Later in his career, he was a mentor to many up-and-coming blues musicians who moved to Chicago, including Muddy Waters. Williamson's harmonica style was a great influence on postwar performers. His popular songs, original or adapted, include ' Good Morning, School Girl', ' Sugar Mama', ' Early in the Morning', and ' Stop Breaking Down'. Under his own name, he was one of the most recorded blues musicians of the 1930s and 1940s and is closely associated with Chicago producer Lester Melrose and Bluebird Records. He played on hundreds of recordings by many pre–World War II blues artists. He is often regarded as the pioneer of the blues harp as a solo instrument. John Lee Curtis 'Sonny Boy' Williamson (Ma– June 1, 1948) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter.

Sonny boy williamson the essential rar