Blues Boy Willie

Willie McFalls, a native Memphian from Texas, not Tennessee, took the chitlin circuit by surprise in 1990 when the comical blues dialog of "Be-Who?" put his second album on the Billboard charts and his act on the road. Blues Boy Willie came to Ichiban Records courtesy of his boyhood friend from Texas, bluesman-producer Gary B. B. Coleman. Willie's three albums displayed the typical Coleman touch -- competent but predictable blues tracks with a small studio band. It was the spunky spoken repartee between Willie and his wife Miss Lee on the novelty numbers that earned Willie an unexpected niche on the Southern soul-blues scene. Blues Boy Willie died on March 2, 2024 at the age of 77. ~ Jim O'Neal