Janis Lockwood
Thursday March 9th, 2017 with Renny
WILD, WILD WOMEN!
A few of my favourite female performers in blues, R&B, rockabilly & garage rock.
The day after International Women's Day, a belated celebration of good rockin' women in music.
| Jumpin' Jack Ella Mae Morse - Jumpin’ Like Mad: Cool Cats & Hip Chicks Non-Stop Dancin’ - '48, Capitol Records (unissued)/'96, Capitol Records |
| Ella Mae Morse started to sing in her father’s jazz band in Texas in the late Thirties. Johnny Dorsey heard her and asked her to sing in his orchestra in 1939 when Ella Mae was just 14 years old. In 1942 she recorded Cow-Cow Boogie with the Freddie Slack Trio. It was Capitol Records first hit record, rising to # 9 on the charts. This is an unissued track that recorded by Miss Morse in 1947 and was co-written by alto sax legend Earl Bostic. |
| Stop Talkin' And Start Walkin' Annie Laurie - OKeh Rhythm & Blues Story 1949 – 1957 Vol. 2 - '52, OKeh Records/'93, Sony Music |
| Annie Laurie is best known as being the vocalist in Paul Gayten’s Orchestra in the late Forties and early Fifties. She recorded for the Cosmo, Regal and De Luxe record labels before signing to OKeh Records in 1951. This is a solo Okeh recording from 1952. |
| One Monkey Don't Stop No Show Big Maybelle - OKeh Rhythm & Blues Story 1949 – 1957 Vol. 3 - '54, OKeh Records/'93, Sony Music |
| Big Maybelle was one of OKeh Records largest selling artist on their roster in the early Fifties. Big Maybelle was the artist who recorded the first version of the song “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On”, this is from the B-side of that single with a cover of Roy Hall’s song “One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show”. She went on to record for Savoy Records in 1955. |
| Hittin' On Me Ella Johnson with Buddy Johnson & His Orchestra - Buddy & Ella Johnson 1953 – 1964 Vol. 1 - '53, Mercury Records/'92, Bear Family Records |
| Ella Johnson is one of the unsung divas of Rhythm & Blues. She sang with her brother Buddy’s orchestra in the late Forties, Fifties and early Sixties. Her song “Since I Fell For You” became a jazz standard since it was first recorded in 1945. This is a wonderful proto-feminist song, warning men not to get violent or else…. |
| Yeah Yeah Yeah Peggy Lee - Jumpin’ Like Mad: Cool Cats & Hip Chicks Non-Stop Dancin’ - '51 Capitol Records/'96, Capitol Records |
| Any person who could improve on Little Willie John’s song “Fever” is a genius in my book. Peggy Lee was the vocalist in Benny Goodman’s big band from ’41 to ’43. She began recording for Capitol Records in 1947. Here she sings “Yeah Yeah Yeah” a song written by Louis Prima and his trombone player, Milt Kabek, the same pair that wrote the 1950 smash hit “Oh Babe!” |
| This Joint's Too Hip For Me Betty Hall Jones - I’m A Bad, Bad Girl: Seven Dozen Dusky Divas 1939 – 1953 Vol. - '49, Capitol Records/'04, Indigo/Sanctuary Records |
| Betty Hall Jones was a singer, an arranger, a songwriter and a boogie woogie piano player. She had been the pianist in Roy Milton’s Solid Senders before Camille Howard. Her songs have been covered by her friend and labelmate Nellie Lutcher and by Ray Charles. This song is a commentary on the new Be-Bop jazz that was emerging at this time. |
| X-Temperaneous Boogie Camille Howard - Roll ‘Em: 103 Rompin’ Boogie Woogie Classics – Vol. 4: Boogiology - '49, Specialty Records/'13, Proper Records |
| Camille Howard started playing piano in the Roy Milton Trio in 1943 and stayed with him for ten years. In ’45 Milton increased the size of his band to a seven piece and named it his Solid Senders. Howard played as a Solid Sender throughout the Forties and Fifties and also recorded boogie woogie for Specialty with her own Trio (which included Roy Milton on drums). “X-Temperaneous Boogie” was Camille Howard’s biggest hit, going to number seven on the R&B charts. |
| Rock-A-Bye Baby Big Mama Thornton with the Johnny Otis Orchestra - Hound Dog – The Peacock Recordings - '52, Peacock Records/'92, MCA Records |
| Thornton is best known as the person who first performed Leiber and Stoller’s song “Hound Dog” in 1952 (the song had been written by Leiber and Stoller specifically for Big Mama). “Rock-A-Bye Baby” recorded the same year, on the same label (Peacock Records) and Big Mama is backed by the Johnny Otis Orchestra.
Big Mama was an openly gay performer who often dressed in men’s clothes when she performed, which was a very gutsy statement in the Fifties. |
| Party The Collins Kids (Laurie Collins) - Hop, Skip And Jump - Vol. 1 - '57, Columbia Records/'91, Bear Family Records |
| Lorrie Collins performed with her younger brother Larry as the Collins Kids. “Party” was recorded in 1957 when Lorrie was only fourteen, it and “Whistle Bait” were the Collins Kids two biggest selling songs. Unfortunately the Collins Kids were considered to be a novelty act although Lorrie made some fine country recordings in 1959 and ’61. The Collins Kids reunited in ’93 for a British rockabilly festival. |
| Fujiyama Mama Wanda Jackson - Rockin' In The Country - '57, Capitol Records/'90, Rhino Records |
| “The First Lady of Rockabilly” a.k.a. “The Queen of Rockabilly” has been singing on in Oklahoma City’s KPLR radio since she a was thirteen years old. At the age of seventeen she joined the Western swing band Hank Thompson &The Bravos River Boys. She did a handful of country recordings on Decca in the mid Fifties before Hank Thompson’s manager signed her and took her to Capitol Records. There Wanda recorded some of the hottest rockabilly ever recorded including this song which shot to number one in Japan. Her peers were the kings of the new sound, she toured with Elvis in 1955 and ’56, and with Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins the year after that. |
| Cheat On Me Sin Alley - Headin' For Vegas - '95, Count Orlok Music |
| Sin Alley was a Belgian psychobilly band. Lead singer Martine Van Hoof has definitely been influenced by Wanda Jackson’s distinctive growl. Cheat On Me is a song originally done by the Rockin’ Saints in ’59. |
| Poison Train Honey B. & The T-Bones - On The Loose - '90, Sundance Music |
| Honey B. is the bass player and lead singer of Honey B. & The T-Bones a Finnish rockabilly & blues band. This is another Wanda Jackson inspired track. |
| Shake It, Baby Jessie Mae Hemphill, the "She Wolf" - Feelin' Good - '85, Highwater Records/'97, HMG/High Tone Records |
| Jessie Mae Hemphill also known as the “She Wolf” was born near Como, Mississippi in the northern hill country of the state. She came from a musical family, her grandfather, Sid Hemphill, was a multi-instrumentalist who had a fife and drum band and had been recorded by Allen Lomax in the ’42 and ’59, while Jesse Mae’s aunt, Rosa Lee Hill was also a blues musician. Jessie Mae sat in with some Memphis blues bands in the Fifities but mainly played for family and friends until she was recorded by George Mitchell in 1968 and by David Evans in ’73. It wasn’t until the Eighties, when the rest of her family was dead that she decided to carry on the family heritage. Jesse Mae often played solo, playing her guitar, while tapping a tambourine with her foot and shaking the Choctaw Indian bells on her legs. She was a one woman band! |
| Rockin' Rollin' Eyes Cordell Jackson with George Reinecke & The Mud Bugs - Memphis Drag (45 single) - '90, Sympathy For The Record Industry |
| Cordell Jackson is another Memphis belle. Cordell Jackson was the first female owner of an independent record label in the U.S., Moon Records. She was also the record producer, arranger recording engineer and guitarist at the label. |
| Walk A Mile Holly Golightly - Truly She Is None Other - '03, Damaged Goods |
| Born Holly Golightly Smith, named after Truman Capote’s protagonist in Breakfast At Tiffany’s, Holly Golightly first sang with the Delmonas, a Medway girl’s group. The Delmonas used to open for Billy Childish’s band the Milkshakes. When Childish formed Thee Headcoats, he changed the name of the girl’s group to Thee Headcoatees. Golightly started her solo recording career in 1995. |
| No Respect Thee Headcoatees - Ballad Of The Insolent Pup - '94, Vinyl Japan |
| From Thee Headcoatees third album, Ballad Of The Insolent Pup. They were a prolific group (as all of Childish’s projects tend to be) releasing seven albums in their eight year career (’91-’99). |
| Comin' Home Baby The Delmonas - Minded - The Big Beat Singles - ’84, Big Beat Records/’92, Ace Records |
| The Delmonas were the precursors to Thee Headcoatees. Friends of the Milkshakes, they would sing while being backed by the band. They released two albums and a handful of singles. |
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Wow, great playlist. Gonna be hard to continue pretending to work today.
4:09 PM, March 9th, 2017