Jody Williams

about

Jody Williams ( born Joseph Leon Williams on February 3, 1935; died December 1, 2018) was an American blues guitarist and singer. His singular guitar playing, marked by flamboyant string-bending, imaginative chord voicings and a distinctive tone, was influential in the Chicago blues scene of the 1950s. In the mid-1950s, Williams was one of the most sought-after session guitarists in Chicago, but he was little known outside the music industry, since his name rarely appeared on discs. His acclaimed comeback in 2000 led to a resurgence of interest in his early work and a reappraisal as one of the great blues guitarists. Williams's stinging lead guitar work is still stirringly felt every time someone punches up Billy Boy Arnold's "I Was Fooled," Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love," Otis Spann's "Five Spot," or Williams's eerie minor-key instrumental masterpiece, "Lucky Lou." Born in Alabama, Williams moved to Chicago at age six. He grew up alongside Bo Diddley, the two trading licks as kids and playing for real by 1951. By the mid-'50s, Williams was ensconced as a Chicago session guitarist of high stature, but he began to grow disenchanted when the signature lick he created for newcomer Billy Stewart's Argo waxing of "Billy's Blues" was appropriated by Mickey Baker for the Mickey & Sylvia smash "Love Is Strange." Baker apparently caught Williams playing the riff in Washington, D.C., at the Howard Theatre. When the legal smoke had cleared, Bo Diddley's wife owned the writing credit f

top songs

albums

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Presenting Jody Williams

You Left Me in the Dark

Return of a Legend

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Blues Legends - Chicago Blues

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Hide Out

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TEDTalks (video)

Blues Masters, Vol. 2: Postwar Chicago Blues

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Two Decades of Killer Fretwork (Disc 1)

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Looking For Her

Chess Blues Guitar (Disc 1)

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Blues Masters - Disc 02 - Postwar Chicago Blues

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TEDTalks (hd)

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