''Sonny Is King'' is an album by blues musician

Sonny Terry Saunders Terrell (October 24, 1911 – March 11, 1986), known as Sonny Terry, was an American Piedmont blues and folk musician, who was known for his energetic blues harmonica style, which frequently included vocal whoops and hollers and oc ...

recorded and sessions in 1960 and 1962 and released on the Bluesville label.Both Sides Now: Prestige/Bluesville Album Discography
accessed October 26, 2018

Reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

reviewer Thom Owens stated: "Half of ''Sonny Is King'' is devoted to a rare session between Sonny Terry and Lightnin' Hopkins ... but the rhythm section fails to kick the pair into overdrive, and much of the music disappointingly meanders ... That's proven by the second side of the album, where Terry falls into the comfortable setting of duetting with Brownie McGhee. While these aren't among the duo's very best recordings, they are nonetheless enjoyable, suggesting that there's something to be said for the familiar".

Track listing

All compositions by Sonny Terry # "One Monkey Don't Stop the Show" – 3:04 # "Changed the Lock On My Door" – 3:30 # "Tater Pie" – 2:32 # "She's So Sweet" – 2:39 # "Diggin' My Potatoes" 3:32 # "Sonny's Coming" – 2:50 # "Ida Mae" – 3:10 # "Callin' My Mama" – 2:33 # "Bad Luck" – 4:10 # "Blues from the Bottom" – 4:17

Personnel

Performance

– harmonica, vocals *

Lightnin' Hopkins Samuel John "Lightnin" Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982) was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist from Centerville, Texas. In 2010, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him No. 71 on its list o ...

(tracks 1–5),

Brownie McGhee Walter Brown "Brownie" McGhee (November 30, 1915 – February 16, 1996) was an American folk music and Piedmont blues singer and guitarist, best known for his collaboration with the harmonica player Sonny Terry. Life and career McGhee wa ...

(tracks 6–10) – guitar *

Leonard Gaskin Leonard Gaskin (August 25, 1920 – January 24, 2009) was an American jazz bassist born in New York City. Gaskin played on the early bebop scene at Minton's and Monroe's in New York in the early 1940s. In 1944 he took over Oscar Pettiford's ...

– bass (tracks 1–5) * Belton Evans – drums (tracks 1–5)

Production

Ozzie Cadena Oscar "Ozzie" Cadena (September 26, 1924 – April 9, 2008) was an American record producer with Savoy Records and Prestige Records who recorded gospel and jazz music in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and helped popularize jazz music in Los Ange ...

(tracks 1–5),

Kenneth S. Goldstein Kenneth S. Goldstein (March 17, 1927 – November 11, 1995) was an American folklorist, educator and record producer and a "prime mover" in the American Folk Music Revival. Early life and education Goldstein was born in Brooklyn to Tillie Horowit ...

(tracks 6–10) – producer *

Rudy Van Gelder Rudolph Van Gelder (November 2, 1924 – August 25, 2016) was an American recording engineer who specialized in jazz. Over more than half a century, he recorded several thousand sessions, with musicians including John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Theloni ...

–

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

References

{{Authority control Sonny Terry albums 1963 albums Bluesville Records albums Albums produced by Ozzie Cadena Albums recorded at Van Gelder Studio