Hoodoo Lady: The Memphis Minnie Story

"I got a bumble bee, don't sting nobody but me
And I tell the world, he got all the stinger I need

And he makes better honey, any bumble bee I ever see
And when he makes it, oh how he make me scream"

(New Bumble Bee Blues, 1929)

 Memphis Minnie was something different when she emerged on the blues scene in the late 1920's as a tough guitar toting country blues woman in a field dominated by men. Blessed with an authorative voice and ample guitar chops Minnie's records were very popular cutting hundreds of sides before she retired in the mid-50's. She was able to adapt her style to newer trends accounting for her years of popularity and was one of the few figures to make the successful transition from the rural, guitar dominated blues of the 1920's to the urban nightclub styles of the 40's and 50's. Among her most famous recordings include "Bumble Bee Blues," "Me and My Chauffeur," "Black Rat Swing," "I'm Talking About You," "When The Levee Breaks" and "What's The Matter With The Mill?."

 Minnie was born June 3, 1897, in Algiers, Louisiana as Lizzie Douglas and was raised on a farm before moving to Walls in northern Mississippi. As a child she was called "Kid Douglas" and learned how to play the guitar and banjo. She began playing local parties before running away from home to play for tips at Church’s Park (later named W.C. Handy Park) on Beale Street in Memphis. During the 1910s and early 1920s, Douglas adopted the handle of Memphis Minnie and toured the South, playing tent shows with the Ringling Brothers Circus. Minnie began playing guitar with a variety of jug bands during this period and also began a common law marriage with Kansas Joe McCoy, a musician with whom she had begun playing with and would soon record with.

 In 1929 she was discovered by a talent scout for Columbia Records. Accompanied by Kansas Joe, their very first session yielded the hit song "Bumble Bee" (later recorded by Muddy Waters as "Honey Bee"), and the duo would remain musical partners for the next six years. Within a year of her first recording date, Minnie had logged a half-dozen more sessions, including a reprise of "Bumble Bee" with the Memphis Jug Band.

 Minnie and Kansas Joe migrated to Chicago in 1930, where they quickly became part of the city's growing blues scene. Along with Big Bill Broonzy, whom she reputedly beat in a "blues contest" and Tampa Red, Minnie was integral in the transition of country blues into a more urban setting by taking up bass and drum accompaniment, anticipating the sound of the 1950s Chicago blues.

 After her breakup with Kansas Joe in 1935, Minnie married guitarist Ernest Lawlars in 1938, known as "Little Son Joe," and the two recorded numerous records together. The duo played in dozens of clubs around town including their home base, the 708 club, where they were often joined by Big Bill, Sunnyland Slim, or Snooky Pryor. During the quarter century or so that she lived in Chicago, Minnie recorded for a number of labels, including Vocalion, Decca and Bluebird, and with a number of bluesmen, most notably Sunnyland Slim and Little Walter. For some of her sessions Minnie employed a small combo and for others she was accompanied by a second guitarist.

 After her health began to fail in the mid-1950's, Minnie returned to Memphis and retired from performing and recording. She spent her twilight years in a nursing home, where she died of a stroke in 1973 and was buried in New Hope Cemetery in Walls, Mississippi. Memphis Minnie was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1980. Her biographers Paul and Beth Garon offer this succinct description of her: "Memphis Minnie, a black working-class woman, called no man master, defied gender stereotypes and exemplified a radically adventurous life-style that makes most careers of the '20s and '30s seem dull by comparison."

Essential Listening

Queen Of The Blues (Columbia): Eighteen fine selections recorded between 1929 and 1946. A fine introduction to Minnie's work featuring such gems as "Has Anyone Seen My Man?", "Joe Louis Strut", "Killer Diller Blues" and amplified numbers like "Fashion Plate Daddy."

The Essential (Columbia River Entertainment): This 2-CD budget priced collection contains 36 prime songs including "Me and My Chauffeur Blues", "Nothing in Rambling", "Black Rat Swing" and "In My Girlish Days" among many other winners.

Pickin' The Blues (Catfish): An superbly compiled 24 set collection although with some duplication with the above CD's. "New Dirty Dozen", "Pickin' The Blues", "Hoodoo Lady" and "I'm a Bad Luck Woman" are just some of the highlights.