Sonny Boy Nelson (December 23, 1908 – November 4, 1998) was an American

Delta blues Delta blues is one of the earliest-known styles of blues. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, and is regarded as a regional variant of country blues. Guitar and harmonica are its dominant instruments; slide guitar is a hallmark of the s ...

musician.

Biography

He was born Eugene Powell, in

Utica, Mississippi Utica is a town in Hinds County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 820 at the 2010 census, down from 966 at the 2000 census. Utica is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Utica was originally an area known as ...

, United States, the child of an interracial affair. His

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

father soon abandoned the family. His family moved to a plantation at

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

near

Shelby, Mississippi Shelby is a city in Bolivar County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 2,229 at the 2010 census, down from 2,926 in 2000. The town of Shelby was established in 1853 by Tom Shelby, who had purchased a block of land there from the feder ...

. He learned to play the guitar by the age of seven. He and his half-brother Ben (playing

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

) performed as a novelty act at picnics and suppers and for prisoners at the

Mississippi State Penitentiary Mississippi State Penitentiary (MSP), also known as Parchman Farm, is a maximum-security prison farm located in unincorporated Sunflower County, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta region. Occupying about of land,mandolin-banjo The mandolin-banjo is a hybrid instrument, combining a banjo body with the neck and tuning of a mandolin. It is a soprano banjo. It has been independently invented in more than one country, variously being called mandolin-banjo, banjo-mandolin, ...

. Nelson became friends with the Chatmon family (see

Sam Chatmon Sam Chatmon (born Vivian Chatmon; January 10, 1897 – February 2, 1983) was a Delta blues guitarist and singer. He was a member of the Mississippi Sheiks. He may have been Charley Patton's half-brother. Life and career Chatmon was born in B ...

), as both families worked together on the Kelly Drew Plantation, in

Hollandale, Mississippi Hollandale is a city in Washington County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 2,323 at the 2020 census. Deer Creek flows through Hollandale, and the Leroy Percy State Park is west of the city along Mississippi Highway 12. The Holla ...

. In 1935, he married the singer Mississippi Matilda. The following year, the couple, in the company of

Willie Harris William Charles Harris (born June 22, 1978) is an American professional baseball coach who is currently the third base coach for the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball (MLB). He is also a former Major League Baseball outfielder and second bas ...

, Robert Hill, and members of the

Mississippi Sheiks The Mississippi Sheiks were a popular and influential American guitar and fiddle group of the 1930s. They were notable mostly for playing country blues but were adept at many styles of popular music of the time. They recorded around 70 tracks, ...

, traveled to

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, to record for

Bluebird Records Bluebird Records is a record label best known for its low-cost releases, primarily of kids' music, blues and jazz in the 1930s and 1940s. It was founded in 1932 as a lower-priced RCA Victor subsidiary label of RCA Victor. Bluebird became known ...

. She and Nelson separated in 1952, and she relocated to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, with their six children. Nelson played many instruments, including

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

, guitar, harmonica,

horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...

, mandolin and violin. He played lead most of the time when accompanied by another musician. Nelson's guitar was a Silvertone in which he inserted an aluminium resonator similar to those of the

National guitar The National String Instrument Corporation was an American guitar company first formed to manufacture banjos and then the original resonator guitars. National also produced resonator ukuleles and resonator mandolins. The company merged with Dobro ...

. He also fitted a seventh string, using 12-string models as inspiration. The extra string was C an octave higher than the conventional string. Later electric styles overshadowed his fame, and he went on to live a quiet life until his death. Nelson died in November 1998, in

Greenville, Mississippi Greenville is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 34,400 at the 2010 census. It is located in the area of historic cotton plantations and culture known as the Mississippi Delta. Hi ...

, at the age of 89.

References

External links

* * A 1978 recording o
Sonny Boy Nelson performing "How You Want Your Rolling Done?"
is available from the

Alan Lomax Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music of the 20th century. He was also a musician himself, as well as a folklorist, archivist, writer, sch ...

Archive. 1908 births 1998 deaths 20th-century American singers American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues singers Blues musicians from Mississippi People from Utica, Mississippi 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from Mississippi People from Sunflower County, Mississippi 20th-century American male musicians Delta blues musicians Bluebird Records artists {{US-singer-stub