Joseph Lee “Big Joe” Williams, born in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, on this day in 1903 (or maybe 1899), is famous for his nine-string guitar, for mentoring a young Muddy Waters and for being the guy who popularized the song “Baby Please Don’t Go” (1935) — later covered by Muddy, Lightnin’ Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Van Morrison’s Them, Bob Dylan and many others. Big Joe, who died in 1982, “epitomized the life and times of the rambunctious, roving bluesman, traveling from coast to coast and around the world playing rugged, rhythmic blues on his nine-string guitar at juke joints, house parties and concerts,” according to Mississippi Blues Trail. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1992.
