Down and Out Blues, indeed. On his 1959 debut, a collection of previously released singles, Sonny Boy Williamson bleeds desperation—but not without a sense of humor. With his banshee-wailing harmonica in hand, the ace storyteller spins wild tales that laugh in the face of hardship. “Don’t Start Me to Talkin’” is one of his most audacious, but “Your Funeral and My Trial” is right up there. An all-star cast of bluesmen, Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon among them, back up the great Williamson.