A feature on women in the blues
| All The Way Down Etta James - |
| Down Home blues Little Esther - |
| Whisky Selling Woman Lucille Bogan - |
| Ida Cox was a singer and vaudeville performer from Georgia, best known for her blues performances and recordings. She was billed as "The Uncrowned Queen of the Blues."
After the success of Mamie Smith's recording of "Crazy Blues", the classic female blues era had begun and would extend through the 1920s. Cox caught the attention of talent scouts and secured a contract with Paramount Records, the same company for which her idol Ma Rainey recorded. |
| Fogeyism Ida Cox - |
| Rosetta Blues Rosetta Howard - |
| Broadcasting Blues Ida Cox - |
| My personal favourite, Bessie Smith.... she was nicknamed the Empress of the Blues, as she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s & 1930s. She is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era and was a major influence on fellow blues singers, as well as jazz vocalists. Amidst rumours of a bisexual relationship between them, Ma Rainey was said to have helped her develop a stage presence, and Smith began forming her own act in 1913, at Atlanta's "81" Theater. By 1920, she had established a reputation in the South and along the East Coast. |
| Backwater Blues Bessie Smith - |
| I Ain't Gonna Play No Second Fiddle Bessie Smith - |
| Memphis Minnie was a blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter whose recording career lasted 1920-1950 and she recorded over 200 songs. In 1910, at the age of 13, she ran away from home to live on Beale Street, in Memphis. She played on street corners for most of her teenage years, and her sidewalk performances led to a tour of the South with the Ringling Brothers Circus from 1916 to 1920. She then went back to Beale Street, with its thriving blues scene, and made her living by playing guitar and singing, supplementing her income by prostitution (at that time, it was not uncommon for female performers to work as prostitutes out of financial need)
The inscription on the back of her gravestone reads: "The hundreds of sides Minnie recorded are the perfect material to teach us about the blues. For the blues are at once general, and particular, speaking for millions, but in a highly singular, individual voice. Listening to Minnie's songs we hear her fantasies, her dreams, her desires, but we will hear them as if they were our own." |
| Doctor, Doctor Memphis Minnie - |
| Caught Me Wrong Again Memphis Minnie - |
| R.B Blues Ruth Brown - |
| Jessie Mae Hemphill was included on a blues compilation called, "Been Here All My Days: Selections from the George Mitchell Archive"
"...any of the women Mitchell recorded... could all push a song to a crawl, kneading the groove in a way that all the men missed. Mitchell was the only person recording black female guitar players in the South in the 1960s, and the performances show that the few he found played with more presence and style than most of the half-baked bluesmen that were put on record at the time." |
| Home Going Jessie Mae Hemphill - |
| Some Canadian Blues- Victoria Moon Joyce from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories ! Neat compilation record from 1984, "The Yellowknife Album" |
| Yellowknife Blues Moon Joyce - 
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| Buffy Sainte-Marie 's version of Rolling Log Blues was adapted from Lottie Kimbrough's original version. |
| Rolling Log Blues Lottie Kimbrough - |
| Rolling Log Blues Buffy Sainte-Marie -
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| I've Really Got The Blues Jackie Shane - |
| Billie Holiday's birthday is coming up on April 7 |
| Billie's Blues Billie Holiday - |
| Am I Blue? Billie Holiday - |
| Blues Oh Blues Ma Rainey - |
| Strugglin' Woman Blues Clara Smith - |
| Lonesome Day Blues Ruby Glaze - |
| Atlanta Blues Sara Martin - |
| Be My Kid Blues Elizabeth Johnson - |
| Dirty TB Blues Victoria Spivey - |
| Rain Down Blues Big Maybelle - |
| Willie Mae's Blues Big Mama Thornton - |
| I Ain't Givin' Nobody None Mae Glover - |
| Ain't No Use Nina Simone - |
| More Than you know Billie Holiday - |
| Trouble In Mind Sister Rosetta Thorpe - |
| Trouble In Mind Janis Jopin - |
| just try and keep your heart from getting stolen by local musician and superstar Catriona Sturton !! http://catrionasturton.com or check out her music at https://catrionasturton.bandcamp.com/track/mongoose-moan
She is doing almost daily live events on instagram and facebook so look her up :) |
| Heavy Weather Catriona Sturton -
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| Bumble Bee Catriona Sturton -
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| Mongoose Moan Catriona Sturton -
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Hey Heavy listeners! Is anyone listening live from their radio right now? Hope everyone is having a nice night :)
8:13 PM, April 4th, 2020