Lillian McMurry and the Trumpet Records Story

  Lillian Shedd McMurry passed away on March 18, 1999 after suffering a heart attack. Looking at a picture of her you would most likely guess her to be someone’s grandmother and certainly not the pioneering blues woman she really was. McMurry was the owner and founder of Trumpet Records the Mississippi based label that recorded important records by Sonny Boy Williamson, Elmore James, Big Joe Williams, Jerry McCain, Willie Love and many others. Trumpet released gospel, pop, country and rockabilly but it was the blues recordings that made her famous.

  McMurry’s place in blues history came about by chance. Her husband bought a hardware store in the black section of Jackson and she was asked to supervise the store’s inventory. She stumbled upon some “race records” which she began to listen to and then decided to sell. The records sold well and she acquired more and began selling them on a full time basis. The hardware store was converted into a record store/furniture store called Record Mart-Furniture Bargains. Between walk in business and mail order the business began to thrive. It wasn’t long before she got the idea to record her own records using the local talent which was plentiful.

  Trumpet’s first releases were gospel records by Andrews Gospelaires and the Southern Sons. McMurry really wanted to record blues and began to search and audition for blues talent. She got wind of a good harmonica player in the Delta and began searching for him. By the end of 1950 she had tracked down her man, Sonny Boy Williamson.

  Over the next five years Sonny Boy would be Trumpet’s lead artist. While he never topped the charts his records sold well and he went on to cut classics such as “Nine Below Zero”, “Eyesight to the Blind”, and “Mighty Long Time.” Sonny Boy also served as talent scout recruiting Elmore James and Willie Love. James cut only one record for Trumpet, his immortal version of “Dust My Broom” which was Trumpet’s only chart entry. Love cut a number of sides including “Nelson Street Blues” which was a local best seller. Many other artists made their way through the Trumpet studios once word got around about a local lady putting out blues records.

   Lackluster sales and rising debt forced McMurry to close Trumpet’s doors in 1955. In the remaining years she worked with her husband and continued to sell her stock of records. She was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1998.

  Essential Listening

Sonny Boy Williamson- King Biscuit Time (Arhoolie): These are the best of his early 1950s recordings originally issued on the Trumpet label plus a 15 minute radio program over KFFA and Elmore James' original recording of "Dust My Broom" which features Sonny Boy on harmonica.

Various- Strange Kind of Feelin’ (Alligator): Jerry McCain's earliest sides plus tracks by Tiny Kennedy and Clayton Love.

Various- Clownin’ With the World (Alligator): Mostly unreleased Sonny Boy sides plus great sides by piano man Willie Love.

Various- Delta Blues 1951 (Alligator): Features Big Joe Williams, The Huff Brothers and Willie Love.

The Southern Sons- Deep Southern Gospel (Alligator): Performing classic deep gospel similar to The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi.

Trumpet Records: An Illustrated History With Discography (Marc Ryan, Big Nickel Publications, Milford, New Hampshire, 1992): Invaluable and exhaustive documentation of Trumpet Records.