Don't Start Me Talkin

by William E. Donoghue

What you have in your hands is the first publication of the most extensive oral history research ever conducted into the life, the world and the recordings of Aleck or Alex Rice Miller AKA Sonny Boy preview of the contents of Don't Start Me Talkin a forthcoming book and video documentary of the mysterious world of Sonny Boy Williamson II. Sonny Boy Williamson II was an escaped convict who became an international blues star using another man's name...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0963789953
• ISBN13: 9780963789952
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Elliott & James
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

THE BEST BIOGRAPHY ABOUT A SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON II

(portuguese) Esta é uma maravilhosa biografia sobre o maior gaitista do blues americano. O autor Bill Donoghue é o indivíduo que reuniu o maior número de dados e objetos acerca da vida de Sonny Boy. Digo isso como uma testemunha dos fatos. Este livro é o primeiro passo para um futuro documentário e um longa-metragem sobre a vida de Sonny Boy. (English) It`s the wonderfull biography about the great harmonica player from Glendora - Mississipi. The amazing stories about Sonny life is really deep...It`s great...really...really great

Preview of Biography on Sonny Boy Williamson II

Don't Start Me To Talkin' is a 94 page Preview of a book I have been researching with extensive oral history research for 20 years is available for $25 plus $5 postage and handling. (The more complete biography is not yet in print and may never be so this preview will have to suffice until such time as I get a publisher.) I have been researching a more extensive Sonny Boy biography for about 20 years. I have done about 300 interviews and assembled a full set or original copies of all major blues magazines in England, the U. S. and Europe, and nearly all blues books seeking the original interviews from which the distorted misinformation was drawn. Much of the "facts" assumed to be true about Sonny Boy Williamson II are wrong (his real names, his aliases, his birth date, etc). I've have solved many questions about his life with a surprisingly large amount of firm documentation (actual court records, census records, photograp's from his life, wedding and death certificates, arrest records, etc.). The most encouraging fact I discovered was that after 300 interviews of Sonny Boy's friends, neighbors, fans and family every interview with a Black person was absolutely consistent with every other interview. There were no discrepancies at all and although most of these people did not know each other (even his close relatives). This gives new credibility to people from the Mississippi Delta and Arkansas to whom I have talked. In addition, even Sonny Boy's closest and longest friends knew very little about him and there are no American albums with first-hand information in the liner notes nor are there any American interviews done by Americans. All the interviews with few exceptions are by English or other European interviewers. The context was the problem. In America, no one interviewed him because, well, he was black and he died in 1965 before widespread attitudes that blues singers were playing the devil's music or trying to corrupt while kids with their music and the blues press was in its infancy (Living Blues did not start publishing until 1970). In Europe when he was respectfully interviewed they recorded the interviews carefully but did not understand the stories he told and the context in which he lived. Finally, the hardest part of the research was to place the stories I collected in context with the world of the Mississippi delta and Arkansas cities at the time Sonny Boy was there. It's a great story and I hope to find a publisher to publish it and time to finish it.