Although they are in a supporting role, the album also presents some of the earliest recordings by the Yardbirds, whose members included Eric Clapton on lead guitar.

German music impresarios Horst Lippmann and Fritz Rau organized the first annual American Folk Blues Festival in 1962.

[3] The Yardbirds' manager, Giorgio Gomelsky, who promoted some of the early American Folk Blues Festivals in England, persuaded Lippmann to attend one of the group's shows[4] (by another account, Williamson also saw one of their performances).

Part of the arrangement included that Lippmann and Rau record some live performances (as they had done for the festival tour) and finance a solo studio demo by the group.

[4][b] At their first meeting, Clapton wanted to impress Williamson with his familiarity with American blues and asked "Isn't your real name Rice Miller?

[8] Yardbirds' rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja recalled: We spent a very cold afternoon in the club working out stops, breaks, numbers and tempos.

[2] The liner notes include "All selection composed by Sonny Boy Williamson II and published by BMI".

[17] These albums sometimes included various combinations of additional recordings with Williamson, the Yardbirds' December 8, 1963, solo set, and early group demos.

[e] New albums continue to appear, sometimes packaged with recordings of Williamson backed by the Animals on December 30, 1963,[5] and with Jimmy Page and Brian Auger in January 1965.