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Memphis Minnie
Publicity photograph — photographer unrecorded/unknown (Wikimedia Commons, public domain)
Delta

Memphis Minnie

This artist is no longer with us.
Born: June 3, 1897, Tunica County, Mississippi (she later claimed New Orleans as her birthplace) · Died: August 6, 1973, Memphis, Tennessee (stroke)• United States
Delta BluesCountry Blues
Big Bill Broonzy once said Memphis Minnie could "pick a guitar and sing as good as any man I've ever heard" — and in the sexist world of prewar blues, that backhanded compliment was actually the highest one going. She spent three decades proving it on more than 180 released sides. She was born Lizzie Douglas on June 3, 1897, in Tunica County, Mississippi, the eldest of thirteen children of Abe and Gertrude Douglas — though she preferred the nickname "Kid" and later claimed New Orleans as her birthplace, muddying her own biography for reasons no one has ever fully explained (Kilde: Wikipedia). Her family moved to Walls, Mississippi when she was seven; she got her first guitar as a Christmas present at eight and was performing at parties by eleven. At thirteen she ran away from home to Beale Street in Memphis, where she busked on street corners through her teenage years, and from 1916 to 1920 she toured with the Ringling Brothers Circus (Kilde: Wikipedia). A Columbia Records talent scout found her and her then-partner, guitarist Kansas Joe McCoy, playing for dimes in front of a Memphis barber shop, and gave the pair the stage names that stuck for the rest of her career: Kansas Joe and Memphis Minnie. Their first Columbia session, on June 18, 1929, in New York, produced "Frisco Town" (Kilde: Wikipedia). They moved to Vocalion within months, and in February 1930, recording in Memphis, cut "Bumble Bee" — a song she would go on to re-record in several versions over the following years and that became one of her signature numbers. Later that same year, on their most famous joint recording, McCoy and Minnie cut "When the Levee Breaks" in Chicago, a direct musical response to the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 (Kilde: Wikipedia). Through the 1930s her recording pace barely slowed: multiple Vocalion sessions across 1930–1932 in Chicago, an Okeh session in late 1933, Decca sessions in 1934–1935, a Bluebird session in 1935 (some of it with steel guitarist Casey Bill Weldon), and a steady run of further Vocalion dates through 1938 that produced "Hoodoo Lady," "Black Cat Blues" and "Joe Louis Strut," a tribute to the boxer recorded within days of his 1935 win over Primo Carnera. Her marriage to Kansas Joe McCoy ended around 1934–1935; she had married once before him, to Will Weldon in the early 1920s, and would marry again, around 1938, to guitarist Ernest Lawlars, known professionally as "Little Son Joe" (Kilde: Wikipedia). By 1941, recording in Chicago for the Columbia/Okeh/Conqueror family of labels, she had adopted the electric guitar — one of the earliest blues musicians of either sex to do so — and cut "Me and My Chauffeur Blues," which became her biggest hit and was added to the U.S. National Recording Registry in 2019. Poet Langston Hughes, who saw her perform on New Year's Eve 1942, described her amplified sound as "a musical version of electric welders plus a rolling mill" (Kilde: Wikipedia). She kept recording steadily through the 1940s — sessions in 1944, twice in 1946, and 1947 and 1949 — running her career at Chicago's 708 Club as house entertainment through much of the decade, before retiring from performing around 1953 (Kilde: Wikipedia). She suffered a stroke in 1960 that left her using a wheelchair, and a second stroke after Little Son Joe's death in 1961 sent her into a nursing home for her final years. She died in Memphis on August 6, 1973, at 76, and was buried at New Hope Baptist Church Cemetery in Walls, Mississippi. Her grave went unmarked for 23 years until Bonnie Raitt and the Mount Zion Memorial Fund paid for a proper headstone in 1996, inscribed "Lizzie 'Kid' Douglas Lawlers aka Memphis Minnie" (Kilde: Wikipedia).

Musical Influence

Led Zeppelin's 1971 reworking of "When the Levee Breaks" carried Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy's original 1929 song into classic rock's core canon, even as most listeners never learned where it came from. Jefferson Airplane recorded "Me and My Chauffeur Blues," Bonnie Raitt has cited her repeatedly as a formative influence and personally funded her headstone, and singers from Big Mama Thornton to Jo Ann Kelly have pointed to her as proof that a woman could lead a blues band, not just front one. Big Bill Broonzy — himself no small figure — called her ability on guitar the equal of any man's he'd heard (Kilde: Wikipedia).

Influences

Beale Street busking tradition

Family and personal life

Parents
Abe & Gertrude Douglas

Lizzie was the eldest of their 13 children.

Husband (1st)
Will Weldon

Married in the early 1920s.

Husband (2nd)
Kansas Joe McCoy

Guitarist and recording partner; married 1929, divorced c. 1934–1935.

Husband (3rd)
Ernest "Little Son Joe" Lawlars

Guitarist; married c. 1938, remained married until his death in 1961.

Formative experiences

  • •Age 13: Ran away from home to Beale Street, Memphis, and began busking. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
  • •1916–1920: Toured with the Ringling Brothers Circus. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
  • •June 18, 1929: First Columbia recording session, New York, as "Kansas Joe and Memphis Minnie." (Kilde: Wikipedia)
  • •By 1941: Adopted the electric guitar, among the earliest blues musicians of either sex to do so. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
  • •1960–1961: Two strokes, the second following her husband's death, ended her performing career. (Kilde: Wikipedia)

Instruments & Equipment

Guitar

Acoustic guitar (1929–c. 1940)

Standard acoustic steel-string through her Columbia, Vocalion, Decca and Bluebird years.

Electric guitar (from c. 1941)

Among the earliest blues musicians of either sex to adopt the electric guitar; poet Langston Hughes described her amplified sound as "a musical version of electric welders plus a rolling mill."

Stories & Anecdotes

"According to Big Bill Broonzy's autobiography, he and Minnie faced off in a guitar cutting contest in a Chicago nightclub on June 26, 1933; she reportedly won a bottle of whiskey and a bottle of gin. Scholars note some songs referenced in his account actually date from the 1940s, so the story may combine several different contests. (Kilde: Wikipedia)"
"She recorded "Joe Louis Strut" within days of boxer Joe Louis's 1935 knockout win over Primo Carnera. (Kilde: Wikipedia)"
"Musician Johnny Shines described her as fiercely independent: "Any men fool with her she'd go for them right away. She didn't take no foolishness off them." (Kilde: Wikipedia)"

Collaborators

Kansas Joe McCoy

Second husband and recording partner from 1929 until their split c. 1934–1935; co-wrote and recorded "When the Levee Breaks."

Ernest "Little Son Joe" Lawlars

Third husband and guitarist; recording partner through the 1940s.

Casey Bill Weldon

Steel guitarist who accompanied her on part of her October 1935 Bluebird session.

Big Bill Broonzy

Contemporary and, by his own account, a rival in a famous Chicago guitar-cutting contest.

Watch & Listen

Featured

Memphis Minnie - Me And My Chauffeur Blues

Her biggest hit (1941); added to the U.S. National Recording Registry in 2019.

theHellza Poppin

When The Levee Breaks (1929) Kansas Joe and Memphis Minnie

When The Levee Breaks (1929) Kansas Joe and Memphis Minnie

Memphis Minnie - Bumble Bee

Memphis Minnie - Bumble Bee

Watch & Listen

Henter videoer fra YouTube…

Discography

YearTitleProducerStudioLabelChartSalesMusiciansYouTubeNotes
1929Columbia debut session, New YorkColumbia Records—Columbia——Kansas Joe McCoy (Guitar)June 18, 1929 — debut single "Frisco Town," billed as Kansas Joe and Memphis Minnie.
1930Vocalion sessions, Memphis & ChicagoVocalion Records—Vocalion——Kansas Joe McCoy (Guitar)Four sessions across the year, including "Bumble Bee" and "When the Levee Breaks," a response to the 1927 Mississippi flood.
1931Vocalion sessions, ChicagoVocalion Records—Vocalion——Kansas Joe McCoy (Guitar)Two sessions, including "Lay My Money Down" and "Soo Cow Soo," recorded with musical and recording partner Kansas Joe McCoy.
1932Vocalion / Banner / Melotone / Perfect sessionVocalion Records—Vocalion (multi-imprint)——Kansas Joe McCoy (Guitar)February 1932 session issued across several sister labels, including "Fishin' Blues," with Kansas Joe McCoy.
1933Okeh sessionOkeh Records—Okeh——Kansas Joe McCoy (Guitar)October–November 1933 — "My Butcher Man" and "Too Late," with Kansas Joe McCoy.
1934Vocalion & Decca sessionsDecca / Vocalion—Decca / Vocalion——Kansas Joe McCoy (Guitar)Marked the end of her recording partnership with Kansas Joe McCoy.
1935Decca, Vocalion & Bluebird sessionsVarious—Decca / Vocalion / Bluebird——Casey Bill Weldon (Steel guitar)Five sessions across the year; the October Bluebird date featured steel guitarist Casey Bill Weldon. Included "Joe Louis Strut."
1936Vocalion sessions, ChicagoVocalion Records—Vocalion———Three sessions producing "Hoodoo Lady" and "Black Cat Blues."
1937Vocalion sessionsVocalion Records—Vocalion———Three sessions, including "Down in the Alley" and "Keep on Sailing."
1938Vocalion sessionVocalion Records—Vocalion——Ernest "Little Son Joe" Lawlars (Guitar)June 1938 — "Good Biscuits" and "Long as I Can See You Smile," around the time of her marriage to guitarist Ernest "Little Son Joe" Lawlars.
1939Vocalion / Conqueror session, ChicagoVocalion Records—Vocalion / Conqueror——Ernest "Little Son Joe" Lawlars (Guitar)February 1939 session, including "Black Widow Stinger," with Little Son Joe.
1941Columbia/Okeh/Conqueror sessions, ChicagoColumbia / Okeh—Columbia / Okeh / Conqueror——Ernest "Little Son Joe" Lawlars (Guitar)May and December 1941 — "Me and My Chauffeur Blues" (her biggest hit; added to the U.S. National Recording Registry, 2019) and "In My Girlish Days." First sessions on electric guitar.
1944Columbia/Okeh sessionColumbia Records—Columbia / Okeh——Ernest "Little Son Joe" Lawlars (Guitar)December 1944 — "Love Come and Go," with Little Son Joe.
1946Columbia sessions, ChicagoColumbia Records—Columbia——Ernest "Little Son Joe" Lawlars (Guitar)Two sessions across the year, including "Killer Diller" and "Western Union Blues," with Little Son Joe.
1947Columbia sessionColumbia Records—Columbia——Ernest "Little Son Joe" Lawlars (Guitar)December 1947 — "Million Dollar Blues" and "Shout Boogie," with Little Son Joe.
1949Final Columbia sessionColumbia Records—Columbia——Ernest "Little Son Joe" Lawlars (Guitar)May 1949 — "Jump Little Rabbit," among her last commercial recordings before retiring c. 1953, with Little Son Joe.
1991Hoodoo Lady 1933–1937 (compilation)——Chess/MCA———Posthumous compilation gathering key 1930s sides.
1994Complete Recorded Works, Vols. 1–7 (compilation series)——Document Records———Posthumous chronological reissue series covering her full 1929–1953 recorded output.

Famous songs

01When the Levee Breaks
02Bumble Bee
03Me and My Chauffeur Blues
04Hoodoo Lady
05In My Girlish Days

External links

YouTube Music Wikipedia

Sources

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