Editing Memphis Minnie

{{short description|American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter (1897–1973)}}
{{use mdy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{use American English|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name                = Memphis Minnie
| image               = File:American_blues_guitarist_Memphis_Minnie.png
| caption             = 
| birth_name          = Lizzie Douglas
| alias               = {{hlist|Kid Douglas|Minnie Lawlars}}
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1897|6|3}}
| birth_place         = [[Tunica County, Mississippi]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1973|8|6|1897|6|3}}
| death_place         = [[Memphis, Tennessee]], U.S.
| instrument          = {{hlist|Guitar|vocals|bass|banjo|drums}}
| genre               = {{hlist|[[Blues]]|[[Memphis blues]]}}
| occupation          = {{hlist|Musician|songwriter}}
| years_active        = 1908–1958
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Kansas Joe McCoy]]|1929|1934|end=divorce}}
| label               = {{hlist|[[Okeh Records|Okeh]]|[[Columbia Records|Columbia]]|[[Vocalion Records|Vocalion]]|[[Decca Records|Decca]]|[[Bluebird Records|Bluebird]]|[[Checker Records|Checker]]|[[J.O.B. Records|JOB]]
}}
| website             =
}}
'''Lizzie Douglas''' (June 3, 1897 – August 6, 1973), better known as '''Memphis Minnie''', was a [[blues]] guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter whose recording career lasted for over three decades. She recorded around 200 songs, some of the best known being "[[When the Levee Breaks]]", "[[Me and My Chauffeur Blues]]", "Bumble Bee" and "Nothing in Rambling".

== Childhood ==
Douglas was born on June 3, 1897, probably in [[Tunica County, Mississippi]],<ref name="bare">{{cite book| first1= Bob| last1= Eagle| first2= Eric S.| last2= LeBlanc| year= 2013| title= Blues – A Regional Experience| publisher= Praeger Publishers| location= Santa Barbara| pages=186 | isbn= 978-0313344237}}</ref> although she claimed to have been born in [[New Orleans, Louisiana]] and raised in the [[Algiers, New Orleans|Algiers]] neighborhood.<ref name="Harris">Harris, Sheldon (1989). ''Blues Who's Who: A Biographical Dictionary of Blues SIngers''. pp. 161–162.</ref>  She was the eldest of 13 siblings. Her parents, Abe and Gertrude Douglas, nicknamed her Kid when she was young, and her family called her that throughout her childhood. It is reported that she disliked the name Lizzie.<ref>Garon, Paul; Garon, Beth (1992). ''Woman with Guitar: Memphis Minnie's Blues''. Da Capo Press. p. 14.</ref> When she first began performing, she played under the name Kid Douglas.

When she was seven years old, she and her family moved to [[Walls, Mississippi]], south of [[Memphis, Tennessee]]. The following year, she received her first guitar, as a Christmas present. She learned to play the banjo by the age of 10 and the guitar by the age of 11, when she started playing at parties.<ref name="Harris">Harris, Sheldon (1989). ''Blues Who's Who: A Biographical Dictionary of Blues SIngers''. pp. 161–162.</ref> The family later moved to [[Brunswick, Tennessee]]. After Minnie's mother died, in 1922, Abe Douglas moved back to Walls, where he died in 1935.<ref>Garon and Garon (1992), p. 28.</ref>

==Career==
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, occasionally returning to her family's farm when she ran out of money.<ref name="Garon and Garon 1992, p. 15">Garon and Garon (1992), p. 15.</ref> Her sidewalk performances led to a tour of the South with the [[Ringling Brothers Circus]] from 1916 to 1920.<ref>{{cite web|author=Oliver, Paul|title=Memphis Minnie. |publisher=Oxford Music Online, Oxford University Press|access-date=2012-12-07|url=http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/18374}}</ref> She then went back to Beale Street, with its thriving blues scene, and made her living by playing guitar and singing, supplementing her income with sex work (at that time, it was not uncommon for female performers to turn to sex work out of financial need).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Memphis_Minnie.aspx |title=Memphis Minnie |publisher=Encyclopedia.com |access-date=2014-06-14}}</ref>

She began performing with [[Kansas Joe McCoy]], her second husband, in 1929. They were discovered by a talent scout for [[Columbia Records]], in front of a barber shop, where they were playing for dimes.<ref>Garon and Garon (1992), p. 24.</ref> She and McCoy went to record in [[New York City]] and were given the names Kansas Joe and Memphis Minnie by a Columbia A&R man.<ref>Garon and Garon (1992), p. 25.</ref> Over the next few years she and McCoy released a series of records, performing as a duet. In February 1930 they recorded the song "Bumble Bee" for the [[Vocalion]] label, which they had already recorded for Columbia but which had not yet been released.<ref name="Russell 2">{{cite book|first=Tony|last=Russell|year=1997|title=The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray|publisher=Carlton Books|location=Dubai|page=12|isbn=1-85868-255-X}}</ref> It became one of Minnie's most popular songs; she eventually recorded five versions of it.<ref>Garon and Garon (1992), p. 103.</ref> Minnie and McCoy continued to record for Vocalion until August 1934, when they recorded a few sessions for [[Decca Records]]. Their last session together was for Decca, in September.<ref name="Dixon">Dixon, Robert M. W.; Godrich, John; and Rye, Howard W. (1997). ''Blues and Gospel Records 1890–1943.'' 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 615–622.</ref> They divorced in 1935.<ref name="Harris"/>

An anecdote from [[Big Bill Broonzy]]'s autobiography, ''Big Bill Blues'', recounts a [[cutting contest]] between Minnie and Broonzy in a Chicago nightclub on June 26, 1933, for the prize of a bottle of whiskey and a bottle of gin. Each singer was to sing two songs; after Broonzy sang "Just a Dream" and "Make My Getaway," Minnie won the prize with "Me and My Chauffeur Blues" and "Looking the World Over".<ref name="Scorsese198">Farley, Christopher John. "Memphis Minnie and the Cutting Contest." In Guralnik, P., Santelli, R., George-Warren, H., Farley, C.J., eds. (2003). ''Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues'', New York: Armistad. p. 198.</ref> Paul and Beth Garon, in their biography ''Woman with Guitar: Memphis Minnie's Blues'', suggested that Broonzy's account may have combined various contests at different dates, as these songs of Minnie's date from the 1940s rather than the 1930s.<ref>Garon and Garon (1992), p. 58.</ref>

By 1935, Minnie was established in Chicago and had become one of a group of musicians who worked regularly for the record producer and talent scout [[Lester Melrose]].<ref name="Ray">Ray, Del (1995). "Guitar Queen". ''Acoustic Guitar,'' no. 33, September 1995.</ref> Back on her own after her divorce from McCoy, Minnie began to experiment with different styles and sounds. She recorded four sides for [[Bluebird Records]] in July 1935, returned to the Vocalion label in August, and then recorded another session for Bluebird in October, this time accompanied by [[Casey Bill Weldon]], her first husband. By the end of the 1930s, in addition to her output for Vocalion, she had recorded nearly 20 sides for Decca and eight sides for Bluebird.<ref name="Dixon"/> She also toured extensively in the 1930s, mainly in the South.<ref name="Ray"/>

In 1938, Minnie returned to recording for the Vocalion label, this time accompanied by [[Papa Charlie McCoy|Charlie McCoy]], Kansas Joe McCoy's brother, on mandolin.<ref name="Dixon"/> Around this time she married the guitarist and singer [[Ernest Lawlars]], known as Little Son Joe. They began recording together in 1939, with Son adding a more rhythmic backing to Minnie's guitar.<ref name="Ray"/> They recorded for Okeh Records in the 1940s and continued to record together through the decade. By 1941 Minnie had started playing electric guitar,<ref>Spottswood, Richard K. (1993). "Country Girls, Classic Blues, and Vaudeville Voices". In: Cohn, L. ''Nothing but the Blues''. New York: Abbeville Press. p. 101.</ref> and in May of that year she recorded her biggest hit, "Me and My Chauffeur Blues". A follow-up date produced two more blues standards, "Looking the World Over" and Lawlars's "Black Rat Swing" (issued under the name "Mr. Memphis Minnie"). In the 1940s Minnie and Lawlars continued to work at their "home club," Chicago's popular 708 Club, where they were often joined by Broonzy, [[Sunnyland Slim]], or [[Snooky Pryor]], and also played at many of the other better-known Chicago nightclubs. During the 1940s Minnie and Lawlars performed together and separately in the Chicago and Indiana areas.<ref>Smith, Jessie Carney, ed. (1996). ''Notable Black American Women''. Book 2. Detroit: Gale Research. pp. 185–188.</ref> Minnie often played at "Blue Monday" parties at Ruby Lee Gatewood's, on Lake Street.<ref>Garon and Garon (1992), p. 55.</ref> The poet [[Langston Hughes]], who saw her perform at the 230 Club on New Year's Eve, 1942, wrote of her "hard and strong voice" being made harder and stronger by amplification and described the sound of her electric guitar as "a musical version of electric welders plus a rolling mill."<ref>Hughes, L. (1943). {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20030802213023/http://www.ralphmag.org/CB/memphis-minnie.html Music at Year's End]}}. ''Chicago Defender,'' January 9, 1943.</ref>

Later in the 1940s, Minnie lived in [[Indianapolis]] and [[Detroit]]. She returned to Chicago in the early 1950s.<ref name="russell">{{cite book
| first= Tony
| last= Russell
| year= 1997
| title= The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray
| publisher=Carlton Books
| location= Dubai
| pages= 103–104
| isbn= 1-85868-255-X}}</ref> By the late 1940s, clubs had begun hiring younger and cheaper artists, and Columbia had begun dropping blues artists, including Memphis Minnie. Unable to adapt to changing tastes, she moved to smaller labels, such as [[Regal Records (1949)|Regal]], [[Checker Records|Checker]], and [[J.O.B. Records|J.O.B.]]<ref>Pearson, Barry (1993). "Jump Steady: The Roots of R & B". In: Cohn, L. ''Nothing but the Blues''. New York: Abbeville Press. pp. 325–326.</ref>

==Later life and death==
[[Image:Memphis Minnie Gravestone Walls MS.jpg|thumb|Memphis Minnie's grave (2008)]]
Minnie continued to record into the 1950s, but her health began to decline. With public interest in her music waning, she retired from her musical career, and in 1957 she and Lawlars returned to Memphis.<ref>{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.cr.nps.gov/delta/blues/people/memphis_minnie.htm
 |title       = Memphis Minnie
 |publisher   = Cr.nps.gov
 |access-date  = 2006-10-23
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20061031060327/http://www.cr.nps.gov/delta/blues/people/memphis_minnie.htm
 |archive-date = 2006-10-31
}}</ref> Periodically, she appeared on Memphis radio stations to encourage young blues musicians. In 1958 she played at a memorial concert for Big Bill Broonzy.<ref>Humphrey, Mark A. (1993). "Bright Lights, Big City: Urban Blues". In: Cohn, L. ''Nothing But the Blues''. New York: Abbeville Press, p. 169.</ref>  As the Garons wrote in ''Woman with Guitar'', "She never laid her guitar down, until she could literally no longer pick it up." She suffered a [[stroke]] in 1960, which left her confined to a wheelchair. Lawlars died the following year, and Minnie had another stroke a short while after. She could no longer survive on her Social Security income. Magazines wrote about her plight, and readers sent her money for assistance.<ref name="garonandgaron2">{{cite book |last1=Garon |first1=Paul |last2=Garon |first2=Beth |title=Woman with Guitar: Memphis Minnie's Blues |date=2014 |publisher=City Lights Books |location=San Francisco |isbn=9780872866218 |pages=138–39 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IerXAwAAQBAJ&q=138 |access-date=8 August 2019 |language=en |quote=In addition, Chris Strachwitz of Arhoolie Records, as well as ''[[Living Blues]]'' and ''[[Blues Unlimited]]'', all made public appeals to Minnie's many fans to send money to Daisy for Minnie's care. And the fans responded.}}</ref><ref name="Schwartz">{{cite book |last1=Schwartz |first1=Roberta Freund |title=''How Britain Got the Blues: The Transmission and Reception of American Blues Style in the United Kingdom'' |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317120940 |page=207 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4pAWDAAAQBAJ&q=How+Britain+Got+the+Blues:+The+Transmission+and+Reception+of+American+Blues+Style+in+the+United+Kingdom+by+Roberta+Freund+Schwartz |quote=The British blues community rallied around the cause of blueswoman Memphis Minnie, purportedly the first of the Chicago artists to play electric guitar and one its finest instrumentalists. By the time researchers found her she was living in a nursing home in Memphis, paralyzed by a debilitating stroke. [[Jo Ann Kelly|Jo-Ann]] and [[Dave Kelly (musician)|Dave Kelly]] began playing benefits on her behalf and soon other musicians and clubs arranged charity concerts to help the impoverished singer cover her medical expenses. Jo-Ann Kelly also sold pictures of Minnie, which provided the blueswoman with some badly needed income, and letters and cards from her British fans gave her some comfort and satisfaction in her last years. |access-date=28 July 2019 |language=en}}</ref> She spent her last years in the Jell Nursing Home, in [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]], where she died of a stroke in 1973.<ref>Santelli, Robert. (2001) ''The Big Book of Blues''. Penguin Books. page 335. {{ISBN|0-14-100145-3}}.</ref> She is buried at the New Hope Baptist Church Cemetery, in [[Walls, Mississippi]].<ref name="Harris"/> A headstone paid for by [[Bonnie Raitt]] was erected by the [[Mount Zion Memorial Fund]] on October 13, 1996, with 34 family members in attendance, including her sister Bob. The ceremony was taped for broadcast by the [[BBC]].<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.mtzionmemorialfund.org/p/memphis-minnie.html
|title=Memphis Minnie
|publisher=Mount Zion Memorial Fund
|access-date=2014-07-01
}}</ref>
Her headstone is inscribed:

{{blockquote|Lizzie "Kid" Douglas Lawlers

aka Memphis Minnie}}

The inscription on the back of her gravestone reads:

<blockquote>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.<ref>[[:File:Memphis_Minnie_grave_Walls_MS_006.jpg|Gravestone]]</ref></blockquote>

==Character and personal life==
Minnie was known as a polished professional and an independent woman who knew how to take care of herself.<ref name="Garon and Garon 1992, p. 15"/> She presented herself to the public as being feminine and ladylike, wearing expensive dresses and jewelry, but she was aggressive when she needed to be and was not shy when it came to fighting.<ref>{{cite web|author=Pearson, Barry Lee |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/memphis-minnie-mn0000352499/biography |title=Memphis Minnie: Biography |publisher=AllMusic.com |date=1973-08-06 |access-date=2014-06-14}}</ref> According to the blues musician [[Johnny Shines]], "Any men fool with her she'd go for them right away. She didn't take no foolishness off them. Guitar, pocket knife, pistol, anything she get her hand on she'd use it".<ref name="Garon and Garon 1992, p. 15"/> According to [[Homesick James]], she chewed tobacco all the time, even while singing or playing the guitar, and always had a cup at hand in case she wanted to spit.<ref>Garon and Garon (1992), p. 38.</ref> Most of the music she made was autobiographical; Minnie expressed a lot of her personal life in music.{{citation needed|date=November 2013}}

Minnie was married three times,<ref name="Harris"/> although no marriage certificates have been found.<ref>Garon and Garon (1992), p. 5.</ref> It is believed that her first husband was Will Weldon, whom she married in the early 1920s. Her second husband was the guitarist and mandolin player Kansas Joe McCoy, whom she married in 1929.<ref name="Harris"/> They filed for divorce in 1934. McCoy's jealousy of Minnie's professional success has been given as one reason for the breakup of their marriage.<ref name="Garon and Garon 1992, p. 36">Garon and Garon (1992), p. 36.</ref> Minnie was also reported to have lived with a man known as "Squirrel" in the mid- to late 1930s.<ref>Garon and Garon (1992), pp. 21, 38.</ref> Around 1938 she met the guitarist Ernest Lawlars (Little Son Joe), who became her new musical partner, and they married shortly thereafter;<ref>Garon and Garon (1992), p. 45.</ref> Minnie's union records, covering 1939 onwards, give her name as Minnie Lawlars.<ref>Garon and Garon (1992), p. 48.</ref> He dedicated songs to her, including "Key to the World", in which he addresses her as "the woman I got now" and calls her "the key to the world." 

Minnie was not religious and rarely went to church. The only time she was reported to have gone to church was to see a [[Gospel music|gospel]] group perform.<ref name="Garon and Garon 1992, p. 36"/> She was baptized shortly before she died, probably to please her sister Daisy Johnson.<ref>Garon and Garon (1992), p. 85.</ref> A house in Memphis where she once lived, at 1355 Adelaide Street, was demolished in the early 2010s.<ref>Sauer, Steve (2010). "Former Home of Led Zeppelin Inspiration Memphis Minnie Wastes Away." ''Goldmine'', p. 55.</ref>

==Legacy==
Memphis Minnie has been described as "the most popular female country blues singer of all time".<ref>LaVere, Steve, and Garon, Paul (1973). "Memphis Minnie". ''Living Blues,'' Autumn 1973, p. 5.</ref> Big Bill Broonzy said that she could "pick a guitar and sing as good as any man I've ever heard."<ref name="Scorsese198"/> Minnie lived to see a renewed appreciation of her recorded work during the [[blues revival|revival of interest in blues music]] in the 1960s. She was an influence on later singers, such as [[Big Mama Thornton]], [[Jo Ann Kelly]]<ref name="Harris"/> and [[Erin Harpe & the Delta Swingers|Erin Harpe]].<ref>[http://thenoise-boston.com/2014/05/erin-harpe/ "Erin Harpe"]. ''The Noise'', May 29, 2014.</ref> She was inducted into the [[Blues Foundation]]'s [[Blues Hall of Fame|Hall of Fame]] in 1980.<ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://www.blues.org/halloffame/inductees.php4?YearId=25 
 |title=1980 Hall of Fame Inductees 
 |publisher=The Blues Foundation 
 |access-date=2006-10-23 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070305080004/http://www.blues.org/halloffame/inductees.php4?YearId=25 
 |archive-date=2007-03-05 
}}</ref>

"Me and My Chauffeur Blues" was recorded by [[Jefferson Airplane]] on their debut album, ''[[Jefferson Airplane Takes Off]]'', with [[Signe Toly Anderson|Signe Anderson]] as lead vocalist. "Can I Do It for You" was recorded by [[Donovan]] in 1965, under the title "[[Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness)]]". A 1929 Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy song, "[[When the Levee Breaks]]",<ref>{{cite book| last=Fast| first=Susan| title=In the Houses of the Holy: Led Zeppelin and the Power of Rock Music| year=2001| page=165 | publisher=Oxford University Press| isbn=0-19-511756-5}}</ref> was adapted (with altered lyrics and a different melody) by [[Led Zeppelin]] and released in 1971 on their [[Led Zeppelin IV|fourth album]]. "I'm Sailin'" was covered by [[Mazzy Star]] on their 1990 debut album, ''[[She Hangs Brightly]]''.
Her family is currently suing record companies and some artists for royalties and for using her music without permission.
In 2007, Minnie was honored with a marker on the [[Mississippi Blues Trail]] in Walls, Mississippi.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.picayuneitem.com/2007/09/memphis-minnie-honored-with-miss-blues-trail-marker/|title=Memphis Minnie honored with Miss. Blues Trail marker – Picayune Item|date=September 25, 2007|work=Picayune Item|language=en-US}}</ref>

==Songs==
{{Main|List of songs recorded by Memphis Minnie}}

==Discography==

===Compilations===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Year
!Title
!Genre
!Label
|-
|1964
|''Blues Classics by Memphis Minnie''
|blues
|Blues Classics
|-
|c. 1967
|''Early Recordings with Kansas Joe McCoy'', vol. 2
|blues
|Blues Classics
|-
|1968
|''Love Changin' Blues: 1949'', Blind Willie McTell and Memphis Minnie
|blues 
|Biograph Records
|-
|1973
|''1934–1941''
|blues 
|Flyright Records
|-
|1973
|''1941–1949''
|blues
|Flyright Records
|-
|1977
|''Hot Stuff: 1936–1949''
|blues
|Magpie Records
|-
|1982
|''World of Trouble''
|blues
|Flyright Records
|-
|1983
|''Moaning the Blues''
|blues
|MCA Records
|-
|1984
|''In My Girlish Days: 1930–1935''
|blues
|Travelin' Man
|-
|1987
|''1930–1941''
|blues
|Old Tramp
|-
|1988
|''[[I Ain't No Bad Gal]]''
|blues 
|CBS
|-
|1991
|''Hoodoo Lady (1933–1937)''
|blues
|Columbia
|-
|1994
|''In My Girlish Days'' 
|blues
|Blues Encore
|-
|1996
|''Let's Go to Town''
|blues
|Orbis
|-
|1997
|''Queen of the Blues''
|blues 
|Columbia
|-
|1997
|''"The Queen of the Blues": 1929–1941''
|blues 
|Frémeaux & Associés
|-
|2000
|''Pickin' the Blues'' 
|blues 
|Catfish Records
|-
|2003
|''Me and My Chauffeur Blues''
|blues
|Proper Records Ltd.
|-
|2007
|''Complete Recorded Works 1935–1941 in Chronological Order'', vol. 1, ''10 January to 31 October 1935''
|blues 
|Document Records
|-
|unknown
|''Night Time Blues'', Ma Rainey and Memphis Minnie
|blues
|History
|-
|2022
|''The Rough Guide to Memphis Minnie - Queen of the Country Blues
|blues
|World Music Networks
|-
|}

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Sources==
*Garon, Paul, and Garon, Beth (1992). ''Woman with Guitar: Memphis Minnie's Blues''. New York: Da Capo Press.
*Harris, S, (1989). ''Blues Who's Who''. 5th paperback ed. New York: Da Capo Press.

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://archive.org/download/Kansas_Joe_Memphis_Minnie-When_Levee_Breaks/Kansas_Joe_and_Memphis_Minnie-When_the_Levee_Breaks.mp3 Listen to "When the Levee Breaks" at the "Internet Archive" (archive.org)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061031060327/http://www.cr.nps.gov/delta/blues/people/memphis_minnie.htm Delta Blues Bio and Samples of "Bumble Bee Blues" and "Soo Cow Soo"]
* [http://mtzionmemorialfund.org/site/memorials/memphis-minnie/ Mount Zion memorial Fund]
* [https://www.amazon.com/Memphis-Minnie/e/B000APVKTA/works/ref=ntt_mus_teaser? Amazon.com]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061031060327/http://www.cr.nps.gov/delta/blues/people/memphis_minnie.htm Cr.nps.gov]
* [http://www.discogs.com/artist/Memphis+Minnie#p=1&t=Releases_All Discogs.com]
* [https://sundayblues.org/archives/2593 Sundayblues.org]
* [https://sites.google.com/view/ladyplaystheblues/the-artists/memphis-minnie-1897-1973 Memphis Minnie page] at [https://sites.google.com/view/ladyplaystheblues/home Lady Plays the Blues Project]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Memphis Minnie}}
[[Category:1897 births]]
[[Category:1973 deaths]]
[[Category:Musicians from Memphis, Tennessee]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American women singers]]
[[Category:20th-century American women singers]]
[[Category:20th-century American singers]]
[[Category:African-American women singer-songwriters]]
[[Category:American women singer-songwriters]]
[[Category:American blues guitarists]]
[[Category:American blues singers]]
[[Category:American street performers]]
[[Category:Columbia Records artists]]
[[Category:Bluebird Records artists]]
[[Category:Country blues musicians]]
[[Category:Memphis blues musicians]]
[[Category:Savoy Records artists]]
[[Category:American vaudeville performers]]
[[Category:Vocalion Records artists]]
[[Category:African-American guitarists]]
[[Category:Singer-songwriters from Tennessee]]
[[Category:Guitarists from Tennessee]]
[[Category:Okeh Records artists]]
[[Category:Decca Records artists]]
[[Category:Checker Records artists]]
[[Category:Mississippi Blues Trail]]
[[Category:20th-century American women guitarists]]
[[Category:20th-century American guitarists]]
[[Category:African American female guitarists]]