Giving "Eyesight to the Blind"....

[Martin Bailey]

Kevin said:
> Side note: How cool was that to hear an old gravely blues man singing
> Eyesight to the Blind. I'm motivated to start digging deeper.

You've also inspired me to find out more about this guy.

His name was actually Sonny Boy Williamson II.  Confusingly, his father John
Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson also recorded blues records between 1937 and
1947.

"Eyesight to the Blind" was originally recorded as "Born Blind".

This song was also recorded by the group Chess; I've also got an MP3 of it
being performed by Jools Holland & David Gilmour.

His compilation called "His Best" seems a good place to hear more of his
stuff.  Here's the Amazon page:

http://tinyurl.com/2z5pyt

You can hear previews of many of his songs here, including "Born Blind".

Also, he recorded a song called "Nine Below Zero" - which inspired the 80s
Blues / Mod band of the same name.

-MB