Eric von Schmidt, Giants of The Blues, 1996–2004 Musician Biographies and Playlist

From the earliest days of blues entertainment, women musicians and vocalists stood at the forefront. The voices of these women were the first Black musicians to be recorded and distributed by record labels in the mid-1920s, carrying the twelve-bar form across the country. Blues women wrote and sang songs about domestic violence, infidelity, and sexuality while championing female independence. The success of their records paved the way for other Black artists and laid the foundation for emerging innovations in blues, jazz, and popular music. Portrayed here (from left to right): Mamie Smith, Ida Cox, Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith, Sara Dunn aka Sara Martin, Lucille Bogan, Bessie Tucker.

Mamie Smith (1891—1946) was a pioneering singer, dancer, and actress who helped launch the commercial blues recording industry. A seasoned vaudeville performer by her teens, she became a fixture of Harlem nightlife and recorded “Crazy Blues” in 1920, widely regarded as the first major hit by a Black jazz-blues singer, which triggered a rush by labels to record Black artists, fueling the “race records” market. Smith went on to record over 100 songs and opened doors for performers like Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey. 🎵 “Crazy Blues” (1920)  Ida Cox (1896—1967), billed as the “Uncrowned Queen of the Blues,” became one of the most popular and prolific stars of the classic blues era, rivalling Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. A glamorous performer in elegant gowns, she sang her own songs filled with candid lyrics about heartbreak, betrayal, death, and female independence. She recorded nearly 80 titles for Paramount Records. 🎵 “Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues” (1924), was re-recorded by Cox in 1961, influencing a new generation of performers Gertrude “Ma” Rainey (1886—1939) called the “Mother of the Blues,” was among the first major professional blues singers and a formative force in the genre. Emerging from vaudeville and tent shows, she fused rural blues traditions with theatrical stagecraft and a commanding vocal style. Beginning in 1923, she recorded about 100 sides for Paramount and helped open the path for younger singers such as Bessie Smith. Her songs often addressed infidelity, desire, and violence with striking frankness. Rainey toured until retiring in 1935, and received a posthumous GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023. 🎵 “Bo-Weevil Blues” (1923) references the boll weevil, the cotton pest that devastated Southern agriculture Bessie Smith (1894—1937), the “Empress of the Blues,” was one of the most successful Black performing artists of her day. Born in Chattanooga, she began performing while young and gained professional experience on touring shows working alongside Ma Rainey. During the 1920s, she achieved national fame, making more than 160 recordings, and brought blues to a broad audience beyond vaudeville circuits. In the 1930s, the Great Depression and shifting tastes curtailed her career, and she died after a 1937 car accident. Smith’s rich voice and emotionally direct style shaped later singers from Billie Holiday to Janis Joplin. 🎵 “Downhearted Blues” (1923) made Bessie Smith a national star Sara Martin (Sara Dunn, 1884—1955) was a Louisville blues singer and vaudeville star billed as “The Famous Moanin’ Mama.” Singing on the Black vaudeville circuit by 1915, she began recording for Okeh Records in 1922 and became one of the most-recorded classic blues vocalists of the decade. She was known for her glamorous stage presentation and toured widely with stars such as Fats Waller and Clarence Williams, before shifting to gospel work in the 1930s. 🎵 “Mean Tight Mama” (1927) Lucille Bogan (1897—1948), who often recorded under the name Bessie Jackson, was a prominent pre–World War II blues singer and songwriter, among the early artists recorded by Okeh in 1923. Many of her best-known songs rely on double entendre and sexual innuendo, part of a strain sometimes labeled “dirty blues.” She is valued by historians for her forceful voice and songwriting across less provocative material. 🎵 “Alley Boogie” (1930, recorded as Bessie Jackson)  Bessie Tucker (circa 1906—1933), born in Texas, is an elusive figure known through her small but striking body of recordings. She had a powerful voice, often described as a folk-inflected variant of the field holler tradition associated with Black agricultural labor and prison work songs. In 1928-29 she recorded roughly 24 tracks for the Victor label. Beyond being dubbed the “Queen of the Texas Moaners,” little about her life is certain, though researchers have inferred experience of hardship from her lyrics. 🎵 “Penitentiary” (1928) 

The heartland of the blues, the Mississippi Delta, which lies in the northwest section of the state between the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers, has been home to some of the most enduringly influential blues musicians of the 20th century. Artists from this region helped define the Delta sound with haunting vocal lines, driving guitar rhythms, and expressive bottleneck or slide-guitar techniques. The Great Migration of Black Americans between the 1910s and 1970s carried blues traditions from the Mississippi Delta, New Orleans, and Memphis to the growing urban centers of St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, New York, and Los Angeles. Portrayed here (from left to right): Eddie “Son” House, Tommy Johnson, James “Son” Thomas, McKinley Morganfield aka “Muddy Waters,” Sam Chatmon, Charley “Papa Charley” Jackson, Chester Arthur Burnett aka “Howlin' Wolf,” Nehemiah Curtis “Skip,” James, Robert Johnson, John Lee Hooker, Robert Nighthawk, Booker T. Washington aka “Bukka White,” Willie Brown.

Eddie “Son” House (1902—1988) was known for his emotionally intense vocals and signature bottleneck slide guitar. Raised in a religious household in Mississippi, he initially rejected blues music before turning to it in his twenties. Though his early recordings were few, they deeply influenced Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. Rediscovered during the 1960s folk revival, House performed at major festivals like Newport and helped bridge early blues with the rock era. 🎵 “Death Letter Blues” (1965), recorded after his folk-revival rediscovery Tommy Johnson (1896—1956) was a pioneering Mississippi bluesman whose eerie falsetto, haunting lyrics and guitar influenced generations despite a brief recording career. His 1928 Victor sessions yielded enduring classics like “Canned Heat Blues” and “Big Road Blues.”  🎵 “Canned Heat Blues” (1928) is named for the use of Sterno (“canned heat”) as an alcohol substitute Son Thomas (James Henry “Son” Thomas, 1926—1993) was a Mississippi blues musician and folk sculptor whose work gained international attention during the 1960s blues revival. During the 1970s and 80s, he was one of the most recognized local musical figures in Mississippi, performing in nightclubs, festivals, parties, colleges, and juke joints. A visual artist as well as a musician, his art was featured at galleries in places such as New York and Washington, D.C. 🎵 “Cairo Blues” (1968) earned Thomas the nickname “Cairo” McKinley Morganfield aka Muddy Waters (1913—1983) was a Mississippi-born singer, guitarist, and bandleader who helped transform Delta blues into the amplified Chicago sound that shaped modern blues and rock. He moved to Chicago in 1943 and began recording for Aristocrat (later Chess Records) in the late 1940s. Landmark sides such as “Rollin’ Stone” and “Hoochie Coochie Man” defined postwar electric blues and influenced artists from the Rolling Stones to Eric Clapton. A foundational figure in modern blues, he won six Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. 🎵 “Hoochie Coochie Man” (1954) Sam Chatmon (circa 1897—1983) was a singer and guitarist closely associated with the celebrated family band, the Mississippi Sheiks. In the 1920s and early 1930s, he and his brothers helped define regional “Hollandale blues,” playing for local businesses, jukehouse parties, and dances. After years away from the spotlight, Chatmon re-emerged during the 1960s blues revival, launching a late solo career of festival appearances and recordings. 🎵 “Sittin’ on Top of the World” (1930) Papa Charlie Jackson (William Henry Jackson, 1887—1938) was an early blues songster and one of the first self-accompanied male blues recording artists. Based largely in Chicago, he played a six-string banjo-guitar (as well as guitar and ukulele) and helped shape the lively, comic hokum style. He recorded widely through the 1920s and 30s, as well as backing classic female blues singers. 🎵 “Salty Dog Blues” (1924) Chester Arthur Burnett aka Howlin’ Wolf (1910—1976) was a towering singer, guitarist, and harmonica player who helped define Chicago electric blues. Raised in Mississippi, he absorbed Delta traditions and developed an instantly recognizable voice: growling vocals offset by eerie falsetto moans. After getting a start in Memphis, he moved to Chicago in 1954, becoming a Chess Records cornerstone. His classics, including “Smokestack Lightning,” “Moanin’ at Midnight,” and “Evil,” shaped postwar blues and heavily influenced British and American rock bands. 🎵 “Smokestack Lightning” (1956)  Skip James (Nehemiah Curtis James, 1902—1969) was one of the most haunting voices in American blues, known for eerie, minor-key guitar, high singing, and lyrical intensity. Born near Bentonia, Mississippi, he drew on local influences and became central to what many call the “Bentonia style.” Poor Depression-era sales left him obscure until the 1960s blues revival, when he returned to performing and recording, becoming a strong influence on later blues and rock musicians. 🎵 “Hard Time Killing Floor Blues” (1931) Robert Johnson (1911—1938)’s small recorded output, only 29 songs, profoundly influenced American blues and rock music. Raised in Mississippi, he developed a highly sophisticated style marked by virtuosic guitar and complex arrangements. After his early death, his life and work were romanticized into a legend, fueled by white blues enthusiasts’ appraisal of him as a “quintessential Black American blues artist.” 🎵 “Cross Road Blues” (1936) John Lee Hooker (circa 1917—2001) was a Mississippi-born blues singer and guitarist whose boogie style became a distinctive sound in postwar blues. Raised in a strict religious household, he later settled in Detroit, where factory work and club gigs shaped his driving rhythmic approach. His 1948 hit “Boogie Chillen’” launched a long, prolific career. Hooker fused Delta blues with urban electric pulse, influencing rock and blues alike, and enjoyed renewed acclaim from the 1960s onward. He earned multiple Grammy Awards and was inducted into both the Blues Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. 🎵 “Boogie Chillen’” (1948) Robert Nighthawk (Robert Lee McCollum, 1909—1967) was a master slide guitarist and one of the first Delta blues musicians to achieve regional fame through radio, gaining prominence during World War II broadcasting. Recording under several names before settling on Robert Nighthawk, his influential recordings in the late 1940s and 50s include “Annie Lee Blues” and “Black Angel Blues.” His fluid slide style strongly influenced musicians like B.B. King and Earl Hooker. After years of travel, and recording primarily in Chicago, he returned to the Delta before his death in 1967. 🎵 “Black Angel Blues” (1949) Bukka White (Booker T. Washington White, 1904—1977) was a commanding Mississippi-born blues singer, guitarist, and slide master whose career spanned the prewar era and the 1960s folk revival. In the 1930s and 40s, White recorded in Memphis and Chicago, including a series of songs about incarceration after serving time at Mississippi’s Parchman penitentiary. In the 1960s, his undiminished power marked him as one of the revival’s most compelling performers. He also helped his young cousin, B.B. King, get his start in the Memphis music scene. 🎵 “Parchman Farm Blues” (1940)

Railroads, lumber yards, oil fields, and cattle ranches in the early 1900s created new demands for labor across the rapidly growing state of Texas. Many work sites included not only free wage laborers but also systems of coerced labor, such as convict leasing, which shaped daily life and movement. Wherever audiences gathered, itinerant musicians with portable instruments such as the banjo, guitar, mandolin, and violin found opportunities to make music. From early Texas country blues to later urban innovations, Texas styles helped shift the guitar from rhythmic backup to a singing lead voice that influenced electric blues and rock music. Portrayed here (from left to right): Henry “Ragtime Texas” Thomas, Alger “Texas” Alexander, Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Willie “Blind Willie” Johnson, Sam “Lightnin'” Hopkins, Aaron Thibeaux “T-Bone” Walker, Mance Lipscomb, Lowell Fulson.

Henry Thomas (1874 — circa 1930), known as “Ragtime Texas,” was an early country-blues songster born in Big Sandy, Texas, to formerly enslaved parents. Rejecting cotton farming, he left home around 1890 and lived as an itinerant musician along Texas rail lines. Between 1927 and 1929 he recorded twenty-three tracks, accompanying himself on guitar and quill pipes. Thomas’s repertoire bridges minstrel songs, spirituals, rags, reels, and early blues, making him a key transitional figure in American vernacular music.  🎵 “Cottonfield Blues” (1927) Alger “Texas” Alexander (1900—1954) was a Texas blues vocalist known for a deep, emotive voice, flexible phrasing, and long, narrative blues. He rarely played an instrument, but was accompanied by figures such as Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lonnie Johnson, and Lightnin’ Hopkins. Alexander recorded prolifically, with over 60 sides from 1927—1934 for Okeh and Vocalion, becoming one of the era’s most popular singers. His repertoire drew heavily on railroad, farm-labor, and prison experiences. 🎵 “Levee Camp Moan Blues” (1927) accompanied by Lonnie Johnson on guitar Huddie Ledbetter (1888—1949), better known as "Lead Belly," was a pioneering American folk and blues musician renowned for his powerful voice and mastery of the twelve-string guitar. His vast repertoire, which included work songs, spirituals, blues, and country and western ballads, preserved and popularized African American musical traditions. Through his recordings, radio broadcasts, and live performances for domestic and international audiences in the 1930s and 1940s, Ledbetter profoundly influenced later generations of folk, blues, and rock musicians. 🎵 “Midnight Special” (1934) Ledbetter’s recorded performances of this traditional song brought it from oral tradition into the national folk and blues canon. Blind Lemon Jefferson (1893—1929), born in Couchman, Texas, possessed a distinctive voice and an intricate, free-form guitar style that helped shape early country blues and influenced many later blues musicians. Traveling through southern states and recording extensively in the mid-1920s, he became one of the first commercially successful solo blues artists. 🎵 “Matchbox Blues” (1927)  Blind Willie Johnson (1897—1945) was a Texas-born evangelist and guitarist whose music was often called “holy blues,” fusing gospel texts with the structure of the blues. Blinded in childhood, he learned guitar and performed while singing hymns on street corners, at revivals, and in churches. He recorded for Columbia between 1927 and 1930, producing some of the era’s most powerful sacred performances. Though he never recorded secular blues, his recordings deeply influenced later blues, folk, and rock musicians. 🎵 “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground” (1927) Lightnin’ Hopkins (Sam Hopkins, circa 1911—1982) was a towering figure in Texas blues whose style influenced country and urban blues players during the post-war era. He was described in his New York Times obituary as “perhaps the greatest single influence on rock guitar players.” Born in Centerville, Texas, he began recording in 1946 and went on to a prolific career spanning electric R&B and stark acoustic albums, with several records charting nationally. A natural storyteller and improviser, Hopkins drew on older Texas traditions while addressing contemporary life with wit and immediacy, instantly recognizable in his signature dark shades. 🎵 “Mojo Hand” (1960) Aaron “T-Bone” Walker (1910—1975) was a revolutionary Texas-born guitarist and showman widely regarded as the “father of electric blues guitar.” After starting out in Dallas, he moved to California in 1935 and helped define West Coast blues by amplifying the guitar and using it as a lead instrument with smooth, jazz-inflected lines and sophisticated chording. He influenced generations of players, from B.B. King and Chuck Berry to Jimi Hendrix. 🎵 “Call It Stormy Monday” (1947)  Mance Lipscomb (1895—1976), a Texas guitarist and self-described songster, insisted that he played “all kinds of music,” not just blues. A tenant farmer for most of his life, he drew on an expansive repertoire that predated the blues, encompassing ballads, dance tunes, spirituals, rags, and blues drawn from diverse southern traditions. He was first recorded in 1960 during the folk revival, and was widely admired, especially by young white audiences, for his virtuosity, storytelling, and the historical depth of his repertoire. 🎵 “Texas Blues” (1964) Lowell Fulson (1921—1999), born in Oklahoma and later settling in Oakland, California, was a key figure in West Coast blues of the 1940s and postwar era, forming a bridge to modern R&B music. Many musicians, including Ray Charles, got their start playing in Fulson’s band. His enduring classics include “Reconsider Baby” (1954), important to the development of rock and roll, and later “Tramp,” widely sampled in hip-hop. 🎵 “Reconsider Baby” (1954)

Beale Street is Memphis’s bustling entertainment district. As a crossroads of Southern Black musical creativity in the 1920s and 30s, it hosted acoustic guitarists, jug bands, and string groups performing nightly in clubs and theaters, blending blues, ragtime, and early jazz. This dynamic scene established Memphis as a vital hub of musical experimentation and cultural exchange. Portrayed here (from left to right): Walter “Furry” Lewis, Joe “Kansas City Joe” McCoy, Lizzie “Kid” Douglas aka “Memphis Minnie,” John “Sleepy John” Estes, James “Yank” Rachell, Memphis Jug Band: Charlie Burse, Will Shade, Charlie Polk, Will Weldon; Mississippi Sheiks: Bo Chatman aka Bo Carter, Walter Vinson, Sam Chatmon; Cannon’s Jug Stompers: Gus Cannon, Ashley Thomas, Noah Lewis; Beale Street Sheiks: Frank Stokes, Dan Sane.

Walter “Furry” Lewis (1893—1981) Born in Mississippi and raised in Memphis, Lewis was a key figure in Memphis blues, active in the 1920s and again during the blues revival of the 1960s. His 1927—29 recordings showcased witty, nimble guitar work blending blues, folk, and jug band styles. After years as a Memphis city laborer, he was rediscovered in 1959 by Sam Charters, leading to new albums, festival and film appearances, and enduring admiration. The New York Times hailed him as “a gentle giant of blues.” 🎵 “Kassie Jones Part 1” (1928) a blues-infused retelling of the folk ballad “Casey Jones,” about a heroic train engineer who died in a 1900 wreck near Vaughan, Mississippi. Kansas Joe McCoy (1905—1950) Singer and guitarist McCoy is best known for his recordings with Memphis Minnie, including the original version of “When the Levee Breaks.” His later songwriting and leading of groups that blended blues with early swing and jump blues influenced early rock music. Memphis Minnie (1897—1973) was a pioneering blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Coming on stage in Memphis in the 1920s, she recorded her first songs in 1929 with her husband, Kansas Joe McCoy. Known for her mastery of both acoustic and electric guitar, she blended traditional and modern blues with bold, personal storytelling. She recorded over 200 songs and influenced generations of musicians over her long career. 🎵 “When the Levee Breaks” (1929) With Memphis Minnie on guitar and Kansas Joe McCoy on vocals, this blues lament was inspired by the 1927 Mississippi River flood, one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history. It was later famously reinterpreted by Led Zeppelin. Sleepy John Estes (1899—1977) was a deeply expressive blues singer and guitarist from Brownsville, Tennessee, whose songs turned ordinary struggles into poetic storytelling. His emotional style—dubbed “crying the blues”—captured the hardships and hopes of rural life. After fading from view, he was rediscovered in the 1960s, recording and touring anew to great acclaim. 🎵 “Drop Down Mama” (1935), backed by Yank Rachell on mandolin. James “Yank” Rachell (1910—1997), a country blues musician and master of the mandolin, was often called an “elder statesman of the blues.” Born in Brownsville, Tennessee, he began performing in the 1920s and played for nearly seventy years. Known for collaborations with Sleepy John Estes and co-writing the blues standard “She Caught the Katy” with Taj Mahal, Rachell’s distinctive mandolin style bridged early country blues and later revivals. 🎵 “Tappin' That Thing” (1934) featuring Yank Rachell’s signature mandolin interplay with Sleepy John Estes on guitar. Memphis Jug Band (active late 1920s—1950s). Led by Will Shade, the Memphis Jug Band was one of the most prolific and influential groups in early American music, blending blues, ragtime, and vaudeville with homemade instruments like jugs, kazoos, and washboards. Featuring members such as Will Weldon, Charlie Polk, Charlie Burse, the band recorded more than 60 sides for Victor Records between 1927 and 1932 and continued performing into the 1950s. Centered on Memphis’s vibrant Beale Street, their joyful, streetwise sound captured the spirit of urban Black music and went on to influence many folk, rock, and pop musicians in later decades.   🎵 “Going Back to Memphis” (1927)  Mississippi Sheiks (active 1930s) A celebrated string band, their music was rooted in country blues, dance tunes, and popular song, and known for blending rural Black traditions with a polished, urban sound that appealed across racial lines during the Great Depression. Bo Carter (Armenter Chatmon), the group’s guitarist, singer, and primary songwriter, infused their repertoire with wit and sophistication. Other members included Walter Vinson, and occasionally Sam Chatmon, Carter’s younger brother who later revived the Sheiks’ legacy during the 1960s folk-blues revival. 🎵 “Sitting on Top of the World” (1930) Cannon’s Jug Stompers (active 1920s—1930s) Led by Gus Cannon, Cannon’s Jug Stompers was one of the greatest jug bands of the 1920s—30s, blending blues, rags, and folk traditions with charm and virtuosity. Featuring Noah Lewis on harmonica and Ashley Thompson on guitar and banjo, the group recorded classic tracks like “Minglewood Blues,” “Viola Lee Blues,” and “Walk Right In.” Their Victor recording sessions (1928—1930) influenced later folk and rock artists, including the Grateful Dead and the Rooftop Singers. 🎵 “Walk Right In” (1929) Beale Street Sheiks (active late 1920s) was a Memphis guitar duo featuring Frank Stokes and Dan Sane, who recorded between 1927 and 1929 and helped define the city’s distinctive blues sound. Blending blues, ragtime, and folk traditions, they reflected the lively, streetwise spirit of Beale Street. Stokes (1888—1955), a powerful singer and early professional bluesman, bridged the older songster tradition with modern country blues. 🎵 “Beale Town Bound” (1929)

Around the turn of the 20th century, the growing availability of store-bought instruments like the piano, along with the rapid expansion of sheet-music publishing and new recording technologies, helped accelerate the spread and evolution of popular music. The piano carried the blues and its many variations into intimate indoor spaces—from rural juke joints and urban bars to theaters, house parties, and recording studios. Blues piano players transformed ragtime’s syncopated rhythms into stride, boogie-woogie, barrelhouse, and jump styles that shaped jazz, R&B, rock ’n’ roll, and soul. Portrayed here (from left to right): James P. Johnson, Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton, Maceo “Big Maceo” Merriweather, Nehemiah Curtis “Skip” James, Tom “Georgia Tom” Dorsey, “Cripple Clarence” Lofton, Katie Webster, Willie Lee “Piano Red”  Perryman, “Ray Charles” Robinson, Roosevelt “The Honeydripper” Sykes, Victoria Spivey, Leroy Carr, Meade “Lux” Lewis, Alonzo “Lonnie” Johnson.

James P. Johnson (1894—1955) was the leading architect of stride piano, bridging ragtime with jazz and blues. Active in New York clubs by 1913, he set the pace for Harlem pianists, recording piano rolls from 1917 and commercial records from the early 1920s. His works such as “Carolina Shout” and “The Charleston” became benchmarks of the style. Johnson mentored Fats Waller and influenced Duke Ellington, while also excelling as an accompanist for blues singers such as Bessie Smith and Ethel Waters. He later pursued writing large-scale symphonies and blues operas during the 1930s.  🎵 “Carolina Shout” (1921) Jelly Roll Morton (Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe, 1890—1941) was a New Orleans pianist, composer, and bandleader who helped shape early jazz through orchestrated arrangements. Morton began by playing piano in New Orleans brothels, before touring the South as a traveling entertainer. In 1915, “Jelly Roll Blues” was one of the first jazz compositions to be published, and he’s famous for later claiming he “invented jazz.” He began recording in the early 1920s and his semi-orchestrated sessions with his band, Red Hot Peppers (1926—30), gained national attention. 🎵 “Black Bottom Stomp” (1926)  Big Maceo Merriweather (Major Merriweather, 1905—1953) was a leading blues pianist and singer of the 1940s, admired for his left-hand-driven style and warm, expressive vocals. He grew up around Atlanta, then worked Detroit’s house-party circuit before becoming a Chicago mainstay. Recording widely from 1941-47, often in partnership with Tampa Red on guitar, he scored enduring classics including “Worried Life Blues,” a foundational postwar standard and the first song he recorded. A stroke in 1946 limited his playing, but he continued performing and recording into the early 1950s. 🎵 “Worried Life Blues” (1941) Skip James (Nehemiah Curtis James, 1902—1969) was one of the most haunting voices in American blues, known for eerie, minor-key guitar, high singing, and lyrical intensity. Born near Bentonia, Mississippi, he drew on local influences and became central to what many call the "Bentonia style." Poor Depression-era sales left him obscure until the 1960s blues revival, when he returned to performing and recording, becoming a strong influence on later blues and rock musicians. Though best known for his guitar work, he was also an expressive pianist. 🎵 “Little Cow, Little Calf Blues” (1931), Skip James on vocals and piano Georgia Tom Dorsey (Thomas A. Dorsey, 1899—1993) A barrelhouse pianist and songwriter in his early career, Dorsey helped define hokum blues, a light, humorous style built on catchy rhythms and suggestive double entendres. After touring with Ma Rainey in the 1920s as an accompanist, he partnered with Tampa Red and their 1928 hit “It’s Tight Like That” was one of the era’s biggest hits. He later devoted himself to religious music and became known as the “Father of Gospel Music,” building a major publishing and choir-directing career in Chicago. 🎵 “It’s Tight Like That” (1928), with Tampa Red Cripple Clarence Lofton (circa 1896—1957) was a Chicago boogie-woogie pianist known for a hard-driving left hand and energetic, entertaining stage presence. Born with a limp (the source of his stage name), he became a fixture on Chicago’s bar, party, and club circuit. His first recordings were made in 1935 for Vocalion, backed by Big Bill Broonzy on guitar. Lofton later ran a Chicago nightclub and recorded into the late 1940s. 🎵 “Strut That Thing” (1935) Katie Webster (1936—1999), dubbed the “Swamp Boogie Queen,” was a Houston-born, Louisiana-linked blues pianist and singer known for her powerful, gospel-tinged playing and soulful vocals. She reached wide audiences in the 1960s touring with Otis Redding, and re-emerged in the 1980s, performing and recording to wide acclaim. 🎵 "Two-Fisted Mama!" (1989) Ray Charles (Ray Charles Robinson, 1930—2004) was a singular American artist whose work topped pop, R&B, jazz, and country charts, while drawing deeply from blues and gospel roots. Born in Georgia and raised in Florida, he moved to Seattle in 1948 and scored his first hit, “Confession Blues,” in 1949. Credited with the development of soul music with piano as a foundation in the 1950s, and honored across genres with thirteen Grammy Awards, he also recorded extensively in the blues. 🎵 “Hard Times (No One Knows Better Than I)” (1961) Roosevelt “the Honeydripper” Sykes (1906—1983) was born in Arkansas, moved to St. Louis early in life, and was playing blues piano in barrelhouses and juke joints there by the age of 15. He was among the most prolific blues pianists of the 1930s, known for slow and moderately paced tunes. After forming his own band, The Honeydrippers, while living in Chicago in the 1940s, he continued working and touring extensively, including in Europe through the 1970s and 1980s. 🎵 “Driving Wheel Blues” (1929) Victoria Spivey (1906—1976) was a classic blues singer-songwriter, pianist, and music entrepreneur whose career ran from the 1920s blues boom through the 1960s revival. Born in Houston, she learned piano as a child and was playing at house parties by her early teens. Moving to St. Louis to pursue a recording contract, she broke through in 1926 with the provocative hit “Black Snake Blues” and recorded widely for many labels, eventually settling in New York. In the 1960s she co-founded Spivey Records, drawing major blues veterans to the label and recording with Bob Dylan in 1962. 🎵 “Red Hot Mama” (1962), Spivey on piano and vocals, and Lonnie Jones on guitar Leroy Carr (1905—1935) was a “city man,” born in Nashville and active largely in Indianapolis and Chicago. His smooth, sophisticated approach to piano and vocals helped transform country blues into early urban blues in the 1930s, a genre usually associated with the post-war period. Often pairing up with guitarist Scrapper Blackwell, he produced some of the most influential records of the era, including “How Long, How Long Blues.” Although he died early at the age of 30, Carr’s recordings deeply influenced later blues, jazz, and R&B performers. 🎵 “How Long, How Long Blues” (1928)

At the turn of the 20th century, commercial interest in ragtime and blues created unprecedented opportunities for Black musicians, even as their careers remained constrained by entrenched racial discrimination.  Tent Show Fantasy explores how Black women musicians championed women’s rights, labor struggles, and professional autonomy long before these ideas gained mainstream traction. They ran their own touring companies, negotiated contracts, and managed their finances, opening new possibilities for women’s voices on stage, in the workplace, and in public life. Portrayed here (from left to right): Beulah Thomas aka “Sippie Wallace,” Ethel Waters, Mary “Signifyin’ Mary” Johnson, Lizzie “Kid” Douglas aka “Memphis Minnie,” Bessie Smith, Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Victoria Spivey, Georgia White.

Sippie Wallace (1898—1986), known as the “Texas Nightingale,” was a powerhouse blues and jazz singer-songwriter and a contemporary of Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. A star of the Black vaudeville circuit in the 1920s, she recorded 48 sides for the "race records" company Okeh, many of them hits written by herself. After moving to Detroit around 1929, she performed in clubs until her husband’s death in 1937, then taught and led church choirs. She returned to acclaim in the 1960s, influencing later R&B and rock, and continued to perform into her eighties. 🎵 “Bedroom Blues” (1927) Ethel Waters (1896—1977) was a blues vocalist and stage-and-screen actress who rose from vaudeville to national fame in the 1920s. After early nightclub work in Baltimore, she toured widely as a recording artist and became a Broadway star, earning equal billing at a time when Black performers were often excluded. Her success carried into film and television, and she earned landmark honors for an African American performer, including an Academy Award nomination and a Primetime Emmy nomination. 🎵 “Stormy Weather” (1933), first sung and recorded by Ethel Waters “Signifyin’ Mary” Johnson (circa 1900—1983) was a St. Louis classic female blues singer, accordionist, and songwriter. Debuting late in the blues-recording boom, she recorded just under two dozen sides from 1929—1936, leaving a compact but impressive catalog. Her nickname invokes African American “signifying,” the lyrical wit and rhetorical play that animates her songs. Known for a clear, low delivery and blunt, vivid storytelling, she recorded with leading accompanists including Roosevelt Sykes, Tampa Red, and Kokomo Arnold. 🎵 “Western Union Blues” (1929) written by Mary Johnson, with Ike Rodgers on trombone

Memphis Minnie (born Elizabeth Douglas, circa 1897—1973) was a pioneering blues musician and songwriter celebrated for her virtuosic guitar playing and powerful vocals. Emerging from the Memphis blues scene, she began recording in 1929 with her husband, Kansas Joe McCoy, and built a career spanning more than two decades. One of the few prominent female instrumentalists of her time, Minnie recorded nearly 200 songs, blending traditional country blues with modern urban styles, including electric guitar. She remains a foundational influence on later blues and rock musicians.

🎵 “Me and My Chauffeur Blues” (1941) written by Memphis Minnie and featuring her guitar playing Bessie Smith (1894—1937), the “Empress of the Blues,” was one of the most commanding voices in American music. Born in Chattanooga, she began performing while young and gained professional experience on touring shows working alongside Ma Rainey. During the 1920s, she achieved national fame, making more than 160 recordings, and brought blues to a broad audience beyond vaudeville circuits. In the 1930s, the Great Depression and shifting tastes curtailed her career, and she died after a 1937 car accident. Smith’s fierce, emotionally direct style shaped later singers from Billie Holiday to Janis Joplin. 🎵 “Backwater Blues” (1927) written and first recorded by Bessie Smith, with James P. Johnson on piano, in response to the devastating Mississippi Delta floods of 1926-27. Gertrude “Ma” Rainey (1886—1939) called the “Mother of the Blues,” was among the first major professional blues singers and a formative force in the genre. Emerging from vaudeville and tent shows, she fused rural blues traditions with theatrical stagecraft and a commanding vocal style. Beginning in 1923, she recorded about 100 sides for Paramount and helped open the path for younger singers such as Bessie Smith. Her songs often addressed infidelity, desire, and violence with striking frankness. Rainey toured until retiring in 1935, and received a posthumous GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023. 🎵 “See See Rider Blues” (1924), first recorded in New York City with Louis Armstrong on cornet, became a standard across many genres, interpreted by blues, soul, jazz, folk, pop, country and rock performers. Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1915—1973) was a gospel singer and virtuoso guitarist who became one of the most prominent African American performers of the 1940s and early 1950s. While remaining rooted in gospel music, she crossed into jazz, blues, and R&B, helping to shape early rock ’n’ roll. Tharpe toured and recorded with leading bands and artists including Louis Jordan and Count Basie, and her duet work with her partner Marie Knight became a major postwar gospel attraction. Later rock and soul musicians, from Elvis Presley to Little Richard, credited her influence. 🎵 “Strange Things Happening Every Day” (1944), a traditional African American spiritual recorded by Tharpe on vocals and electric guitar Victoria Spivey (1906—1976) was a classic blues singer-songwriter, pianist, and music entrepreneur whose career ran from the 1920s blues boom through the 1960s revival. Born in Houston, she learned piano as a child and was playing at house parties by her early teens. Moving to St. Louis to pursue a recording contract, she broke through in 1926 with the provocative hit “Black Snake Blues” and recorded widely for many labels, eventually settling in New York. In the 1960s she co-founded Spivey Records, drawing major blues veterans to the label and recording with Bob Dylan in 1962. 🎵 “TB Blues” (1927) written and first recorded by Victoria Spivey Georgia White (1903—1966), originally from Sandersville, Georgia, built her career in Chicago’s club scene. She first recorded in 1930, then became especially prolific from 1935—1941, cutting more than 100 tracks for Decca. Sometimes billed as Georgia Lawson, she was known for a bright, direct delivery and a repertoire that mixed blues feeling with humor. She continued performing regularly in Chicago in her later years, winning a loyal local following. 🎵 “You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now” (1935)

Principal sources consulted: • Blues Foundation & Blues Hall of Fame: https://blues.org/ • Carnegie Hall Timeline of African American Music: https://timeline.carnegiehall.org/ • Ebsco Research Starters (musician biographies): https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters • Grove Music (Oxford Music Online): https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic • Mississippi Blues Trail: https://msbluestrail.org/ • Texas State Historical Association: https://www.tshaonline.org/home • Wikipedia.org Portions of this document were prepared with the assistance of AI tools (ChatGPT) for fact-checking, stylistic review, and editorial clarification. All final content was reviewed, edited, and approved by the human authors.