Big Joe Williams: 7+2=9 Strings

One of the many myths that surround each and every blues player from the pre-ware period is the way in which he or she came upon the instrument used to play. It’s occasionally figured that these performers first built whatever instrument that they became proficient on and perhaps later purchased a professionally made model. In contrast, Big Joe Williams pretty consistently utilized a traditional six string guitar, but modified it to no end. Usually, the Mississippi born singer and guitarist performed using a nine string contraption replete with some device to occasionally hang a kazoo from in order to play it hands free as well as an electric pick-up, whose wires apparently run up the front of the instrument.

There were apparently two different guitars put together by Williams in this manner. One at this point in time is missing in action, while the other is purportedly owned and stored at a Chicago record store called Jazz Mart. I haven’t been there as of yet, but I intend to see that guitar one way or another.

Regardless of who owns what and where any of Williams’ guitars are, the music that he was able to record from the mid ‘30s on through the beginning of the depression (surprisingly recording sides for RCA all the way up until December of ’41) comes across as a bit detached from his musical brethren of the era. Williams didn’t possess some voice that set him apart from concurrent bluesmen, but as a result of his augmented guitar, his playing took on a heavier and sometimes more percussive sound then his cohort. Apparently partially as a result of Williams’ frowning on others using his instrument he made those adjustments, but it eventually wound up making him a unique and sought after act up until and during the folk revival of latter decades.

His song book might not have been the most expansive, but Williams is credited with penning "Crawlin' King Snake" as well as the oft covered “Baby, Please Don't Go.” So, really if the guitarist and singer never worked after setting those tracks down in October of ’35 and March of ’41 respectively, his legacy would be more than assured. Despite those two songs being what they are, Williams’ output isn’t the easiest spate of songs to track down. But perhaps the most ubiquitous of his discs is a Smithsonian collection entitled Big Joe Williams and His Nine String Guitar.

Oddly enough, the ’61 sessions don’t include either of his best known songs, but considering he’d been playing each for roughly twenty years at the time of the date, it’s understandable as to why the performer would choose to eschew those efforts in lieu of a few other classics.

The fidelity here is unflinchingly golden. And while Williams performed as a solo act for the most part, “Somebody's Been Fooling (No. 1)” finds the guitarist in the company of a bassist and a mandolin player. Its results are nothing less then stirring, but even if they weren’t it’s still Big Joe Williams playing a 9 string guitar.