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Cuttin’ heads with blues guitar legends Big Bill Broonzy and Tampa Red at a club in Chicago, Minnie tore them both a new one, earning their respect in the process. She didn’t show her fellow guitarists any mercy either. As legendary slide guitarist Johnny Shines once recalled: Any men fool with her she’d go for them right away. Man, Memphis Minnie was terrifying! Hard as nails, Minnie could play guitar just about better than anyone and was no pushover in the tough juke joints and blues clubs. Guitar legend and co-writer of When The Levee Breaks Lizzie 'Memphis Minnie' Douglas
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Listen: Alberta Hunter - Two-Fisted, Double-Jointed, Rough and Ready Man (live at The Smithsonian in 1981) We dare you not to fall in love with this amazing character. While a hard copy is tough to find, clips of the 2001 documentary of Alberta’s life My Castle’s Rockin‘ are available to eyeball on YouTube - click here for nine priceless minutes. The song would later be covered by blues and jazz royalty like Son House, Cab Minnie The Moocher’ Calloway and Ella Fitzgerald. Her hilarious performance of Two-Fisted, Double-Jointed, Rough and Ready Man (audio below) is priceless.Įarly in her career Alberta scored big when she co-wrote Downhearted Blues, the million selling record that launched Bessie Smith’s career. In 1977, at the age of 82, she staged a successful comeback and proved that she’d lost none of her fire or her infectious sense of humour. Hilarious and infectious - the Memphis-born Alberta Hunter Alberta Hunterīorn in Memphis, Tennessee in 1895 Alberta Hunter enjoyed an amazing 40 year career as an entertainer, then gave it up to become a nurse in the mid-50s. Listen: Ida Goodson plays and talks about her upbringing
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Ida passed away in 2000 but there are still plenty of people out there celebrating the life of an amazing blues musician - see this Ida article on the excellent Piney Flatwoods Girl blog for more. She played piano for Bessie Smith in the early '20s. Ida’s sister Wilhemina would become better known under her stage name of Billie Pierce. The girls had other ideas and would take turns to keep watch for their parents coming home while the others played the blues. Blues was banned in the Goodson household Ida’s father was a deacon at Pensacola's Mount Olive Baptist Church and had taught his children to play piano for church services and the like. Her mother and father both played piano as did her sisters Mabel, Della, Sadie, Edna and Wilhemina. Goodson came from a musical family based in Pensacola, Florida. What footage does exist of Ida Goodson shows a infectious barrelhouse pianist, singer and ball of energy. More than just Bessie Smith's piano player Ida Goodson