WILLIE LOVE ( II)

  

                    

Willie Love Jr. (November 4, 1906 – August 19, 1953) was an American Delta blues pianist. He is best known for his association with and accompaniment of Sonny Boy Williamson II.

Love was born in Duncan, Mississippi. In 1942, he met Sonny Boy Williamson II in Greenville, Mississippi.They played regularly together at juke joints throughout the Mississippi Delta.Love was influenced by the piano playing of Leroy Carr and was adept at both standard blues and boogie-woogie styling.

In 1947 Charley Booker moved to Greenville, where he worked with Love.Two years later, Oliver Sain also relocated to Greenville to join his stepfather, Love, as the drummer in a band fronted by Williamson. When Williamson recorded for Trumpet Records in March 1951, Love played the piano on the recordings.Trumpet's owner, Lillian McMurray, had Love return the following month and again in July 1951, when he recorded his best-known song, "Everybody's Fishing", which he wrote. Love played piano and sang, with guitar accompaniment by Elmore James and Joe Willie Wilkins. His backing band was known as the Three Aces. A studio session in December 1951 had Love backed by Little Milton (guitar), T.J. Green (fiddle), and Junior Blackman (drums). In his teenage years, Eddie Shaw played tenor saxophone with both Milton and Love.

Under his own name, Love did not return to the studio until March 1953, when he cut "Worried Blues" and "Lonesome World Blues." Despite the friendship between them, Love did not utilise Williamson's playing on any of his own material.In April 1953, Love and Williamson recorded in Houston, Texas, in Love's final recording session.

Love played piano on Williamson's albums I Ain't Beggin' Nobody and Clownin' with the World (1953).All of Love's own recordings appeared on the compilation album Greenville Smokin', issued in 2000.

After suffering the effects of years of heavy drinking,Love died of bronchopneumonia, in August 1953, at the age of 46. He was interred at the Elmwood Cemetery in Jackson, Mississippi.

Fue en el transcurso de los años 30's y 40's que  Willie andaba tocando su piano principalmente por los juke-joint del Delta, garitos de de Memphis y Helena, antes de empezar una carrera en solitario que le llevó hasta principios de los años 50. Habia aprendido a tocar de muy joven en Duncan MS, y mientras se movia por la región trabajando con lo que podía. Un buen dia llegó a conocer a  Rice ‘Sonny Boy II’ Miller en uno de sus viajes, congeniaron y decidieron a partir de entonces trabajar juntos , así que en 1942, finalmente Willie se mudó a Helena AK, donde actuó regularmente en el programa de radio King Biscuit Time de Sonny Boy. Mas tarde se juníria a ellos  el guitarrista Willie Joe Wilkins y el baterista Willie Nix, actuando en público  como The Four Aces. En 1951, Willie grabó muchas veces con Sonny Boy II y Elmore James en sus sesiones de grabación para Trumpet Records en Jackson MS, sin dejar de grabar en  solitario , incluida su canción más conocida "Everybody’s Fishing". Willie tenía una voz fina y clara y grabó varias veces como solista para Trumpet, sin embargo sus discos no consiguieron una distribución que los hiciera llegar al gran público .