Joseph Lee Williams (October 16, 1903 – December 17, 1982)[2] was an American Delta blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter,[1] notable for the distinctive sound of his nine-string guitar.

[4] The blues historian Barry Lee Pearson (Sounds Good to Me: The Bluesman's Story, Virginia Piedmont Blues) described Williams's performance: Born a few miles west of Crawford in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi,[5][6] Williams as a youth began wandering across the United States busking and playing in stores, bars, alleys, and work camps.

[8] He stayed with Bluebird for ten years, recording such blues hits as "Baby, Please Don't Go" (1935) and "Crawlin' King Snake" (1941), both of which were later covered by many other musicians.

He also recorded with other blues singers, including Sonny Boy Williamson, Robert Nighthawk, and Peetie Wheatstraw.

[4] Around this time he was reportedly married to St. Louis blues singer Bessie Mae Smith,[9] who he sometimes credited with writing "Baby, Please Don't Go".

He became a regular on the concert and coffeehouse circuits, touring Europe and Japan in the late 1960s and early 1970s and performing at major U.S. music festivals.

Marc Miller described a 1965 performance in Greenwich Village:Sandwiched in between the two sets, perhaps as an afterthought, was the bluesman Big Joe Williams (not to be confused with the jazz and rhythm and blues singer Joe Williams who sang with Count Basie).

My date and I exchanged pained looks in empathy for what was being done this Delta blues man who was ruefully out of place.

During the 1920s and 1930s, Williams gradually added the extra strings to prevent other guitarists from playing his guitar.

His headstone was primarily paid for by friends and partially funded by a collection taken up among musicians at Clifford Antone's nightclub in Austin, Texas, organized by the music writer Dan Forte, and erected through the Mt.

The harmonica virtuoso Charlie Musselwhite, a one-time touring companion, delivered the eulogy at the unveiling.

Zion Memorial Fund to the Delta Blues Museum in order to purchase one of the last guitars Williams used from his sister Mary May.

Williams can be seen playing the nine-string guitar in American Folk-Blues Festival: The British Tours, 1963–1966, released on DVD in 2007.