Sonny Rhodes

Rhodes worked between 1940 and 2021 across musician. The registers place that work in blues. This article rests on 2 catalogued compositions and 11 issued recordings drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

• Name — Sonny Rhodes • Birth Name — Clarence Edward Mauldin • Alias — Clarence Smith • Born — 3 November 1940 • Birthplace — Smithville, Texas, U.S. • Died — 14 December 2021 • Instrument — Lap steel guitar, electric guitar • Genre — Blues • Occupation — Singer, guitarist, songwriter • Years Active — 1958–2021 • Label — Evidence, Galaxy, Ichiban, Kingsnake, Rhodes-Way, Stony Plain, Greater Planet Entertainment, Need To Know Music

Rhodes was born in Smithville, Texas on November 3, 1940, as the son of Emma Mauldin. He was orphaned as a baby and was adopted by sharecroppers Leroy and Julia Smith. He received his first guitar at the age of eight as a Christmas present and became serious about playing the blues at age 12. He credited his uncle as his source of inspiration. Rhodes began performing around Smithville and nearby Austin in the late 1950s, while still in his teens. He listened a lot to T-Bone Walker when he was young. He acknowledged as influences the guitarists L.C. Robinson, Pee Wee Crayton and B.B. King and the singer Percy Mayfield. With his first band, Clarence Smith and the Daylighters, he played blues clubs in the Austin area until he joined the U.S. Navy after high school graduation. In the Navy, he was stationed in California, where he worked for a while as a radio man and closed-circuit Navy ship disc jockey, telling off-color jokes in between the country and blues records he would spin for the entertainment of the sailors. Rhodes recorded a single, "I'll Never Let You Go When Something Is Wrong", for Domino Records in Austin in 1958. He also learned to play the bass guitar. He played bass accompanying the guitarists Freddie King and Albert Collins. After his stint in the Navy, in his mid-20s, Rhodes returned to California and lived in Fresno for a few years before signing a recording contract with Galaxy Records in Oakland. He recorded a single, "I Don't Love You No More", in 1966 and another single for Galaxy in 1967, changing his stage name from Clarence Smith to Sonny Rhodes at that time. Frustrated with the San Francisco Bay area record companies, he recorded "Cigarette Blues" on his own label, Rhodes-Way Records, in 1978. Rhodes toured Europe in 1976 and released numerous recordings on European labels, including I Don't Want My Blues Colored Bright and the live album In Europe. In 1985, he released Just Blues on Rhodes-Way. In the late 1980s, he recorded Disciple of the Blues, released by Ichiban Records in 1991, and Living Too Close to the Edge, released in 1992. He later moved to Kingsnake Records, releasing several albums including The Blues Is My Best Friend (1994) and Out of Control (1995), and touring widely in the US, Canada and Europe. In 2008, he released I'm Back Again. His current release, The Essential Sonny Rhodes – Songs & Stories, on Need To Know Music is a retrospective of his career to date, featuring Rich Kirch, Barry Goldberg, Frank Howard Swart and Dawn Richardson. The record was produced by Brian Brinkerhoff and Swart. He died on December 14, 2021, at the age of 81.

Rhodes recorded "The Ballad of Serenity", the theme music for the television series Firefly, which was written by series creator Joss Whedon.

Rhodes played at the San Francisco Blues Festival six times. In 1993, Sonny was the best man in the onstage wedding of Mike and Laura Harrelson at the Sacramento Blues Festival. He also played at the Musicamdo Jazz and Blues Festival in Italy in 2005 and the Fresno Blues Festival in 2007.

Sonny Rhodes is recorded as a citizen of United States. Recorded with the occupation musician. Classed in the genre blues. Recorded at birth as Clarence Edward Mauldin.