Joseph Lee Williams, born October 16, 1903, in Crawford, Mississippi, billed throughout his career as Big Joe Williams, was an American Delta blues1 musician noted for the distinctive sound of his nine-string guitar that he created by modifying other guitars.

Big Joe Williams had the reputation of being a cantankerous individual, and yet, at the same time, he was a gifted songwriter, a powerhouse vocalist, and an exceptional guitarist. Despite his reputation artists who knew him well treated him as a respected elder statesman.

In his early years, Williams was a walking musician who played work camps, juke joints, store porches, streets, and alleys from New Orleans to Chicago. He recorded through five decades for such record labels as Vocalion, OKeh, Paramount, Bluebird, Prestige, Delmark, and many others. In the early 1920s he worked in the [Rabbit Foot Minstrels Revue] and recorded with the Birmingham Jug Band in the early 1930s.