We can never "capture" all of the great talents and songs of blues history.  Instead, we're going to feature some of them in our "limited" discography and provide some limited information about selected Artists. We encourage you to further research the Artists and their contributions to this great American Art Form

Memphis Minnie

Memphis Minnie

Memphis Minnie (born Lizzie Douglas in 1897) was arguably one of the most influential and historically significant female blues artists. Minnie's roots were in country blues, an area dominated by men. She had an authoritative voice that packed a punch with a rough edged passion.

Minnie had such a command of the language of the blues that her career spanned three decades and included such genuine blues classics as "Bumble Bee," "Hoodoo Lady," and "I Want Something For You." Minnie influenced a number of blues figures from Muddy Waters on and kept a female presence in an increasingly male art form

Memphis Minnie learned to play guitar and banjo as a child and began playing and singing on Memphis street corners in her early teens. She joined the Ringling Brothers Circus and toured the South. During the 1920s she settled into the Beale Street blues scene where she was discovered by a Columbia Records talent scout in 1929. She recorded later that year under the name "Memphis Minnie." Minnie recorded more than 100 sides before retiring in the mid 1950s.

Minnie with second husband Kansa Joe McCoy moved to Chicago in 1930 where she introduced the country blues style to the urban Chicago scene. As a result in part of her years playing southern juke joints, Minnie was a tough lady who dressed elegantly but had been known to use a guitar, a pistol, or any other handy object when provoked.

After she beat Bill Broonzy and Tampa Red in a guitar battle she began getting some much deserved attention. While living in Chicago she recorded for a number of labels, and with such bluesmen as Sunnyland Slim and Little Walter.

When her health failed in the mid 1950s she returned to Memphis and retired. She spent her last years in a nursing home where she died of a stroke in 1973. Memphis Minnie was inducted into The Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1980.

Did you know?

Memphis Minnie wrote and recorded "When the Levee Breaks," later recorded and wrongly credited to Led Zeppelin.

pat kreeft