Chippies

To the left are Bessie Smith in her most famous photograph and Victoria Spivey in a portrait shot, some city blues singers who in those early days were more likely to be photographed and become famous. There are unfortunately no photographs of Geeshie Wiley and only four recordings, however everyone who has ever heard "Last Kind Word Blues" can attest to how she has left her legacy over time.

“If Geeshie Wiley did not exist, she could not be invented: her scope and creativity dwarfs most blues artists. She seems to represent the moment when black secular music was coalescing into blues.”

From Don Kent's History of the Mississippi Blues.

Geeshie Wiley and Memphis Minnie were inventive guitar players as well as vocalists, and it is not too well known that an African American guitar player named Leslie Fiedler taught little Maybelle Carter, who was a prodigy of sorts, how to play the then rare Spanish guitar in the mountains where she grew up, adding to her mandolin experience and converting her forever to the guitar as her instrument of choice.


This is an IMix amongst the many I have on the ITunes store, to go into the Ad Hoc country and city theme from another direction. And a nice way to segue from Black History Month into Women's History Month, - - Happy First of March y'all.

Chippies

Playlist Notes: country and city blues gals




Song Name Artist

Pick Poor Robin Clean Geeshie Wiley

Last Kind Word Blues Geeshie Wiley

Skinny Leg Blues Geeshie Wiley

Eagles on a Half Geeshie Wiley

What It Takes to Bring You Back Butterbeans & Susie

Adam and Eve Butterbeans & Susie

Shreveport Blues Lillian Glinn

My Old Flame Mae West

Hoodoo Man Blues Victoria Spivey

Dope Head Blues Victoria Spivey

If You're a Viper Rosetta Howard

Men Are Like Street Cars Rosetta Howard

Trouble In Mind Bertha "Chippie" Hill

Conjur Man Memphis Minnie

Down In New Orleans Memphis Minnie

Hoodoo Lady Memphis Minnie

Me and My Chauffeur Memphis Minnie

Haïti Josephine Baker

J'ai deux amours Josephine Baker

L'accordéoniste Edith Piaf

Padam padam Edith Piaf

Hound Dog (Single) Big Mama Thornton

Yes, Baby (duet with Johnny Ace) Big Mama Thornton, Johnny Ace & Willie Mae Thorton

I Need a Man to Love Janis Joplin