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Hubbell, Ken. King Biscuit Time, KFFA, Helena, Ark., Left to right, Joe Willie Wilkins, Joe "Pine Top" Perkins, Sonny Boy Williamson, Hugh Smith (announcer), James "Peck" Curtis, Houston Stackhouse [graphic].

Title: King Biscuit Time, KFFA, Helena, Ark., Left to right, Joe Willie Wilkins, Joe "Pine Top" Perkins, Sonny Boy Williamson, Hugh Smith (announcer), James "Peck" Curtis, Houston Stackhouse [graphic]. 1944.

Negative taken of King Biscuit Time, a blues radio show broadcast from Radio Station KFFA in Helena, Phillips County, Arkansas in 1941. People in the image include from left to right: Joe Willie Wilkins, Joe "Pine Top" Perkins, Sonny Boy Williamson, Hugh Smith (announcer), James "Peck" Curtis and Houston Stackhouse. Joe Willie Wilkins was born in 1921 in Davenport, Mississippi. His father was Papa Frank Wilkins. He learned to play the guitar when he was quite young and became known as "The Walkin' Seeburg" because he could perform requests so easily. He became Sonny Boy Williamson's accompanist in 1941. During the 1970's, he became part of the Memphis Blues Caravan for the reorganized King Biscuit Boys. Sonny Boy Williamson was a famous blues musician during the 1940s and 1950s. He was born between 1899 and 1910 under the name Aleck Ford and was also known as Rice Miller or Aleck Miller and grew up in Mississippi and taught himself how to play the harmonica. In 1965, he returned to Helena and appeared again on "King Biscuit Time" and died May 25, 1965. James "Peck" Curtis was a drummer with Sonny Boy Williamson [a.k.a. Rice Miller]. Peck died November 1, 1970 at Helena, Arkansas. Joe "Pine Top" Perkins was born July 13, 1913 at Belzoni, Humphreys County, Mississippi. He spent some time in Helena, Arkansas in 1943 where he went to be on Robert Nighhawk's KFFA radio program. It was while in Helena he had the tendons in his left arm severed by an angry chorus girl. Until then he had played the guitar but switched to the piano following his injuries. He switched to Sonny Boy Williamson's King Biscuit Time radio show. He went on the road for a while and finally landed in Chicago. Houston Stackhouse was a great Blues player who was born Houston Garth on September 28, 1918 [1910] in Wesson, Copiah County, Mississippi on the Randall Ford Plantation. He made his first record in 1967. He died September 23, 1980.

ArchivalResource: 1 copy negative : b&w ; 13 x 10 cm. (5 x 4 in.)

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