Early Female Blues Artists
A recording collection donated by
Dr. Jim Carmichael
To UNCG’s Music Library
Index of material by
Jon-Marc R. Dale
1
Index
General Introduction
Introduction to the Collection
About the Donor
Organization
Individual artist’s index
Compilation & Singer’s index
References
About the Compiler
3
3-9
10
11-12
13-21
22-39
40
41
2
General Introduction
In the summer of 2010, UNC Greensboro’s Music Library
received a large collection of document recordings featuring early
female blues artists graciously donated by Jim Carmichael of the LIS
Department. This extensive collection includes well-known artists
Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey as well as lesser known artists such as
Lillian Glinn and Hattie Burleson. The majority of this collection is from
the catalog of the English recording company Document Records
without whose efforts these early recordings might only be known
through anecdotal evidence.
The purpose of this index is to highlight, describe and provide
access to the collection. The following introduction by Dr.
Carmichael explains why he started this collection and describes its
scope. It also includes information about the some of the artists
represented in the collection.
Introduction to the Collection
When I was a fifteen-year-old away at prep school, feeling very alone
and “blue”—a languorous southern mini-pariah freezing in New England
rectitude—I once heard a radio voice, an incredibly powerful voice, from a
room upstairs. I was mesmerized, and waited outside the door until the radio
announcer told me that I had just heard Bessie Smith singing “Trombone Charlie”
on a Hartford jazz program. Over the next forty years or so, I built and lost three
jazz and blues collections, and read and heard everything I could get my hands
on having to do with Bessie and her musical kin.
The present collection represents most heavily the early period of female
black blues singers (i.e., pre-1930). These women were products of tent shows,
touring troupers, black vaudeville and the black migration, which lasted for
seventy-five increasingly cruel years following the dismantling of Reconstruction
(1876-1890), until approximately 1970. Although the “classic” blues is a misnomer,
since there was never any such thing as “pure” form, the term is generally used
to refer to the twelve-bar blues, with one line repeated twice (“I woke up this
morning with an awful achin’ head/ I woke up this morning with an awful achin’
3
head/ My new man had left me just a room and an empty bed”). Singers such
as Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Ida Cox preferred the twelve-bar blues to
vaudeville songs about the blues, or tin-pan alley offerings—the saucy popular
songs that worked their way into the recording dates of the 1920s as music
publishers and songwriters tried to promote their wares. Nevertheless, many of
these singers sang vaudeville-style songs in their traveling show repertoires. Only
later generations of jazz and folk enthusiasts made distinctions among genres.
These women were, after all, primarily entertainers. The recordings that
constitute the output of these early stars—precursors of the “torch singer”—
represent only a fraction of what they performed on stage. Imagine hearing
Bessie Smith singing “I’ll See You in My Dreams,” as jazz historian Paul Oliver
claimed she did!
If folk art is strictly defined as anonymous variants on an archetype, then
certainly the twelve-bar blues qualifies as folk music. Yet many of the so-called
“popular” songs the blues queens sang have come to be associated with blues.
The “country” blues, as the twelve-bar blues came to be known, although it
could also refer to homely subject matter or the use of kazoos, washboards, or
jugs in accompaniment, had deep roots in shouts and chants inherited from the
slaves of the rural south. Some of the “rounds”, or chains of verses, appear
again and again in the “original” compositions of singers separated by
generations. Thus, the lyrics of Billie Holiday’s “Billie’s Blues” (originally recorded
in 1935) and “Fine and Mellow” (1939) are not entirely unique expressions, but a
compilation of verses, some of which one can find in Ethel Water’s 1926 “Ethel
Sings ’Em” and Alberta Hunter’s 1923 “Down South Blues.” Moreover, since the
early blues artists “covered” each others’ sides regularly, the notion of
authorship is somewhat incongruous, anyway, especially in a form as
predictable as the twelve-bar blues.
As some writers have noted, it is probably more useful to talk of
blues-style singing vs. vaudeville-style singing vs. jazz-style singing than it is to rely
on form to limit the field. All of these singers sang twelve-bar blues, Ma Rainey
more than most, but they also sang jazz, vaudeville novelty songs, risqué doubleentendre pieces, and other forms such as the eight-bar blues. It was delivery,
sincerity, and conviction above all that characterized the singers of the blues,
not just their no-holds-barred subject matter or strict adherence to form. They
would sing almost anything, although some of them, like Bessie and Ma,
certainly had preferences. Their voices ranged from the lilting soprano of
Alberta Hunter, to Bessie Smith’s chocolate-y warmth and blaring growl, to Ida
4
Cox’s powerful nasal contralto. All of the greatest possessed what later become
associated with jazz singers and torch singers—a mesmerizing presence, an
idiosyncratic resonance of voice, and a way with lyrics, syncopation, and
rhythm. The “queens” like Ma Rainey, Mamie Smith, Bessie Smith, Clara Smith,
and Ida Cox were blessed with powerful vocal equipment, but there were many
lesser singers who did surprisingly well with far less.
The theme of the blues, which were indeed about love most of the time,
and many of which were composed or co-authored by the singers themselves,
dealt with reality in an honest, ironic, mournful, and humorous, but rarely selfpitying way. Note that travel, trains, and automobiles, not to mention the
names of particular cities, states, rivers and geographical landmarks appear
throughout the blues. Migration and travel afforded African Americans the only
relief on which they could count when Jim Crow became too oppressive at
home, wherever that happened to be. Love blues were as likely to concern
sexual braggadocio and threats as they were abandonment, betrayal, and
malicious gossip. Nor were social problems like addiction (“Dope Head Blues”),
drunkenness (“Me and My Gin”), and prostitution (“Hustlin’ Blues”), not to
mention homosexuality (“Prove It on Me Blues”), spurned. Naturally, the “Blue”
or “dirty” blues also had their place (Lucille Bogan’s illicit recording of “Shave
‘Em Dry”), although most record companies cleaned up the pornography
before it reached disc. More often the suggestive double-entendre analogy
was employed: this makes deciphering double meanings an exercise in poetic
dexterity and caution, since ambiguity and coded meanings are the richest
survival tools among all oppressed minorities. Nevertheless, “jelly roll,” [lovemaking] “easy rider” (or “see see” rider) [lover], “pigmeat,” [a man particularly
attractive as lover] “monkey man,”[Haitian or African man] “back-door man,”[
extramarital lover] “eagle rock,” and “balling the jack,” [variants in both dance
and copulation] are only the most common of terms to have reached the
modern jazz/rock lexicon, and one wonders sometimes if modern singers know
how these terms were originally used.
Actually, listening to some white singers of the twenties is instructive for the
contrast they offer to the black female blues singers. In popular and jazz tunes
of the 1920s, leading white female performers were the ravishingly beautiful and
innocent-voiced Ruth Etting, sweet and soignée Annette Hanshaw, boisterous
Blossom Seelye, fatuous Helen Kane (the boop-boop-bee-boop girl), and teary
Helen Morgan. Add to these, various other performers known mainly on
Broadway, like the “red hot mama,” Sophie Tucker, or Nora Bayes and Marilyn
5
Miller, and there is simply no singer comparable to the great blues queens. Not
until Mildred Bailey came along as Paul Whiteman’s first female vocalist was
there a white singer who could match the natural phrasing and sheer
inventiveness of Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey, and even Bailey was best
remembered for making the most of a limited vocal palette.
In shouting their blues from the footlights and in the recording studio,
black women were carving out a niche in the fight for equality for black women
in a style that white vaudevillians like Sophie Tucker could only mimic. One of
the supreme ironies, and an extremely fortunate one, of musical history is that
Mamie Smith became the first black female recording star by virtue of the fact
that Sophie Tucker could not make a recording date and suggested Mamie,
whom she admired, as a substitute. The long term effects on American music
were profound, although Ken Burns’ marathon TV series on jazz barely mentions
Mamie or the blues stars who followed in her wake. No concern of their lives
was too menial: work, poverty, and homesickness (especially southern nostalgia)
were regular topics, as were raucous house-rent parties (or buffet flat orgies),
and rarely, the woes of being a domestic servant (“Sadie’s Servant Room
Blues”). Of course, there were endless variants on the theme of love,
mistreatment, sass, and violence. This being the jazz age as well as the age of
the flappers, blues singers also sang about new dance steps, too (e.g., “Shake
That Thing,””Jersey Walk,” and “New Orleans Hop Scop Blues,” just to name a
few). More than content, however, it was their feeling that transformed popular
singing.
Stellar as the blues queens may seem now, life for people of color in
America challenged every moral conviction and ethical principal on which the
country was supposedly founded. Lynchings were still common, public facilities
were segregated, and economic conditions were appalling. One must be glad,
even in this politically correct day, that some people took an interest in “black
folk” or the “Negro,” however misplaced such efforts may have looked to a
later generation of Civil Rights protesters. The short-lived Harlem Renaissance,
the ubiquity of jazz music via the new (1923) medium of radio (or “wireless
telegraphy,” as the Library of Congress still called it) and the well-meaning
condescension of white liberals like Howard Odum (The Negro and His Songs
and Wings on My Feet); Mildred Bailey (who regularly sang tin pan alley fare
about mammies and their coal black roses); Marc Connelly (The Green
Pastures), DuBose Hayward (Porgy and Mamba’s Daughters), and Roark
Bradford, (How Come Christmas, Ol’ Man Adam an’ His Chillun, et al.) was
6
considered enlightened and kind. Few African Americans attained social
dignity outside the urban centers of Chicago and New York, and only then if
some basic human impulses were held in check.
None of the blues queens realized royalties from their early recording
contracts, although one or two like Alberta Hunter and Ma Rainey transcribed
their songs and were compensated by their publication and sale as sheet music.
Bessie Smith accepted $50 and rarely received more than $125 per record.
Thus, the blues queens relied on sold-out performances or full-scale revues at
theatres like the Lafayette and Apollo in Harlem, The 81 and 91 theatres in
Atlanta, and other cabarets and theatres throughout the country, which, even
after performers and musicians were paid, were quite lucrative. Although blues
singers complained about the treatment that they received from the Theatre
Owner’s Booking Association (TOBA, known as “Tough on Black Asses” to the
troupes), and the quality of appearance, with which they bought the elaborate
and occasionally outrageous costumes, jewels, and cars that fans came to
expect of them.
As in many other fields, men eventually came to dominate the blues
market; male accompanists nevertheless considered it a privilege to record with
these women. Some of the sidemen-notably Louis Armstrong, Thomas (Georgia
Tom) Dorsey, Tommy Ladiner, Fletcher Henderson, James P. Johnson, Porter
Grainger, Jelly Roll Morton, Coleman Hawkins, and many other giants of jazzachieved instrumental fame with white audiences long after jazz ceased to be
associated exclusively with the black experience or blues. By 1933, when Bessie
Smith recorded her last record (Included in this set), and Billie Holiday recorded
her first, the Great Depression and declining sales in the record industry had all
but ruined most of the blues singers financially, and many of them died in
obscurity. Those who survived the Depression physically-and some did notsurvived artistically if they were able to adopt swing-style and big-band jazz with
its more structured instrumental setting. Notable among those who adapted
with some success were Victoria Spivey, Ida Cox, Trixie Smith, Ethel Waters, and
Alberta Hunter. Others, like Lizzie Miles and Chippie Hill, had to wait for the
revival of interest in Dixieland Jazz after World War II for their comebacks. Some
comebacks were apocryphal: Victoria Spivey located Sippie Wallace in
Houston and talked her into taking the stage again in the 1960s. Ida Cox and
Alberta Hunter were dragged out of retirement in the 1960s along with Lovie
Austin to sing and play again on disc. Alberta Hunter’s re-revival appearance
with Eubie Blake in a Greenwich Village eatery when she was in her eighties was
7
greeted with an unprecedented éclat. While revivals of these singers made a
deep impression among a younger generation of artists, notably Bonnie Raitt
and Bob Dylan, for the most part their great performances lay behind them
when their vocal equipment was still at its best. Thus, the compiler has favored
the early recordings. Thus, the absence of Dinah Washington, Etta James, Ruth
Brown, LaVern Baker, and countless others reflects the compiler’s limited focus
rather than a quality judgment, even though these names frequently come up
in discussion of blues style.
Conventional notions of glamour and sophistication to describe the blues
queens: Ma Rainy, the first and to some the greatest of blues singers, even
penned a blues to her corns (“Those Dogs o’ Mine”). Part of the great appeal of
the blues to a present-day listener is the folkways they preserve, and one
regularly encounters songs or lines about superstitions, death, and ghosts. Ida
Cox in particular relished blues about death, cemeteries, and coffins, and they
are some of the most moving of all blues performances; Bessie Smith’s treatment
of the same themes are more tinged with hellfire and damnation or the
macabre. It is amazing how many of these singers sang in churches as children
before running away or, more rarely, joining a travelling entertainment troupe
with parental permission. “Whorehouse music,” as jazz and early blues were
called, according to Billie Holiday, offered strict religious mores black and white.
Indeed, when the bottom fell out of the blues market in the early thirties, some of
of the singers returned to the church, notably Ma Rainey, Sara Martin, and Sippe
Wallace. The blues survived the Depression through jazz, though, and came to
represent for some the growth of black urban consciousness, and the raw
realities of urban life—but that consciousness never lost its rural roots, as one can
hear clearly in these recordings.
Finally, a word about the technical limitations of the recordings: while it
may take a few hearings to disentangle all of the words and black argot from
the scratchy surfaces of the early recordings, especially before the advent of
electrical recording in 1925, the power of these singers must be appreciated in
light of the fact that they were using, for the most part, inferior acoustical
recording equipment and untalented sound engineers who had to place
instruments so that they would not overpower the singer. Although Ma Rainey
recorded until 1928, Paramount Records, which claimed to have electric
recording, apparently never used it with her to any effect. Recording quality
dictated accompaniment under the acoustical process, too, which is why one
hears the click click of wood blocks where drums would normally be: drums
8
could cause distortion and skipping. (Bessie Smith, on the other hand, did not
like drums). It is one of the greatest misfortunes of jazz history that Ma Rainey’s
voice was never recorded by modern equipment, and we only catch glimmers
of the powerful warmth with which audiences attributed it. In the case of the
Ma Rainey sides, note the two takes of “Mountain Jack Blues,” which together
demonstrate how radically different two performances of the same song by the
same artist could be, and how this in turn affected the meaning and tone that
the listener heard. Some singers were never fully appreciated: I remain in awe
of Rosa Henderson’s ease with a great variety of blues, jazz, and vaudeville
material, just to choose one example.
It may be considered something of a miracle that Mamie Smith, who
became the first black female artist to record a blues in 1920, and her stylistic
contemporaries, Eva Taylor, Lucille Hegamin, Virginia Liston and other “whitesounding” vaudeville and blues singers, gave way to the democratic range of
voices and styles of the classic blues era. The blues never lost touch with the
elocutions of the vaudeville stage (to wit, Ethel Waters’ rolling r’s), but nor did
they erase local diction and speech (for example, Texans Victoria Spivey and
Sippie Wallace’s pronunciation of “man” as “main,” which Louisianan Lizzie Miles
also employed).
Whatever one may say about the musical limitations of the blues form
and the imaginative poverty of its tin pan variations, these sides tell a very
ennobling and important American story, one that deserves to be better known.
The singers and musicians that perform on these recordings, whether they
aspired to artistry or merely begged expression, convey a subtext of the
American historical saga as vital as any in the academic repertoire.
9
About Dr. Carmichael
Dr. Jim Carmichael is a professor of Library and Information
Studies at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro,
where he has taught since 1989. He was born in Marietta,
Georgia in 1946. He received his A. B. (French, 1969) and MLn.
(1977) degrees from Emory University. He received his Ph. D.
from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1988. The subject of his dissertation was
“Tommie Dora Barker and Southern Librarianship,” and
concerned Barker’s role in reconciling sectional feeling with
national professional goals in the difficult years of The Great
Depression.
(Photo by Thomas J. Kozak)
10
Organization
The following list is organized into two sections: the first section lists
recordings by individual artist (or multiple artists). The second section
lists recording compilations with various artists (some of which are not
included in the individual artist list).
The first section:

Each entry is alphabetically arranged by artist's last name. Birth and
death dates are included for various artists within this section of the index.
Not all such dates are known, or may be contested. Each name includes
a Document Record CD number, or, in the case of recordings that are not
Document recordings, are noted by company name.
For example:
Bradford, Perry (1893-1970)
DOCD-5353

The Document CD number represents the Series:
DOCD-5000 Series: Vintage Blues, Jazz, Boogie Woogie, Gospel and
Spirituals
BDCD-6000 Series: Vintage Blues and Boogie Woogie
JPCD-1500 Series: Vintage Jazz and Blues

Some recordings include multiple artists; these artists are separated with a
reference to the artist under whose name the CD number is located.
For example:
Brown, Ada (1890-1950)
(See Esther Bigeou)
Bigeou, Esther
DOCD-5489 (With Lillyn Brown, Alberta Brown and Ada Brown)
The Second section:

Alphabetical by recording title
11
For example:
Barrelhouse Women
DOCD-5378 Vol. 1
-Katherine Adkins
-Bertha Ross
-Evelyn Brickey
-Frances Wallace & Clara Burston

Each name includes a Document Record CD number or, in the case of
recordings that are not Document recordings, are noted by company
name.
For example:
Barrelhouse Women
DOCD-5497 Vol. 2
-Sodarisa Miller
-Alice Pearson
-Mattie Dorsey
-Star Page

Names with each entry are arranged as they appear on the liner notes.
For example:
Blues & Jazz Obscurities
DOCD-5481
-Sammie Lewis & Mandy Randolph
-Jenkins & Jenkins
-Margaret Whitmire
-Wiley & Wiley
-William Walker
12
Individual Artist
B
 Barrel House Annie
(See Lil Johnson)
 Beaman, Lottie
(See Elzadie Robinson)
 Bentley, Gladys (1907-1960)
(See Maggie Jones)
 Bigeou, Esther (1895-1936?)
DOCD-5489 (With Lillyn Brown, Alberta Brown and Ada Brown)
 Bogan, Lucille (1897-1948)
BDCD-6038 Vol.3
CK 65705
Yazoo 1017 (With Walter Roland)
 Mary H. Bradford
(See Bennie Moten)
 Bradford, Perry (1893-1970)
DOCD-5353
 Brown, Ada (1890-1950)
(See Bennie Moten)
(See Esther Bigeou)
 Brown, Alberta
13
(See Esther Bigeou)
 Brown, Bessie (1895-1955)
DOCD-5456 (Remaining tracks by Liza Brown)
DOCD-5527 Vol.1 (With George Williams)
DOCD-5528 Vol. 2 (With George Williams)
 Brown, Cleo (1903-1995)
JPCD-1532-2
 Brown, Lillyn (1885-1969)
(See Esther Bigeou)
 Brown, Liza
(See Bessie Brown)

Butterbeans and Susie (Jodie "Butterbeans" Edwards (1895-1967)
and Susie Hawthorne (1896-1963))
DOCD-5544 Vol.1
DOCD-5545 Vol.2
C
 Christian, Lillie Delk
DOCD-5448 (With Hociel Thomas)
 Cooksey, Robert
DOCD-5279 Vol.1 (with Bobby Leecan)
 Copeland, Martha
DOCD-5372 Vol.1
DOCD-5373 Vol.2 (Remaining tracks by Irene Scruggs)
 Cox, Ida (1896-1967)
DOCD-5322 Vol.1
DOCD-5323 Vol.2
DOCD-5324 Vol.3
DOCD-5325 Vol.4
DOCD-5326 Vol.5
D
14
 Davenport, Cow Cow (Davenport, Charles Edward)
(1894 – 1956)
BDCD-6039 (With Ivy Smith)
 Dunn, Johnny (1897-1937)
JPCD-1522-2 Vol.1 (With Edith Wilson)
G
 Glinn, Lillian (circa 1902-? )
DOCD-5184
CD 3537-2 (With Mae Glover)
 Glover, Mae
(See Lillian Glinn)
 Gross, Helen
DOCD-5477
H
 Hegamin, Lucille (1894-1970)
DOCD-5419 Vol.1
DOCD-5420 Vol.2
 Hicks, Edna ( 1896-1925)
DOCD-5428 Vol.1
DOCD-5431 Vol.2 (Remaining tracks by Hazel Meyers and Laura Smith)
 Hill, Bertha “Chippie” (1905- 1950)
DOCD-5330
 Henderson, Fletcher (“and the Blues Singers”)(18971952)
DOCD-5342 Vol.1
DOCD-5343 Vol.2
 Henderson, Rosa (1896-1978)
DOCD-5401 Vol.1
DOCD-5402 Vol.2
15
DODC-5403 Vol.3
DOCD-5404 Vol.4
 Hunter, Alberta (1895-1984)
DOCD-1006 Alternate takes
DOCD-5422 Vol.1
DOCD-5423 Vol.2
DOCD-5424 Vol.3
DOCD-5425 Vol.4
CK 36430
CDSL 5195
J
 Johnson, Lil
DOCD-5307 Vol.1
DOCD-5308 Vol.2
DOCD-5309 Vol.3 (With Barrel House Annie)
 Johnson, Lonnie (1899-1970)
OBCCD-518-2 (BV-1044) (With Victoria Spivey)
 Johnson, Merline (“The Yas Yas Girl”) (1912-?)
DOCD-5293 Vol.2
DOCD-5294 Vol.3
 Johnson, Margaret
DOCD-5436
 Johnson, Mary (1900-1970)
DOCD-5305
 Jones, Maggie (1900-?)
DOCD-5348 Vol.1
DOCD-5349 Vol.2 (Remaining tracks by Gladys Bentley)
K

Kansas City Kitty & Georgia Tom
16
(BDCD-6023)
 Kansas Joe
BDCD-6008 Vol.1 (With Memphis Minnie)
DOCD-5029 Vol.2 (With Memphis Minnie)
L
 Leecan, Bobby
DOCD-5279 Vol.1 (with Robert Cooksey)
 Liston, Virginia (1890-1932)
DOCD-5446 Vol.1
DOCD-5447 Vol.2 (With Lavinia Turner)
M
 Martin, Daisy
DOCD-5522 (With Ozie McPherson)
 Martin, Sara (1884-1955)
DOCD-5395 Vol.1
DOCD-5396 Vol.2
DOCD-5397 Vol.3
DOCD-5398 Vol.4
 McPherson, Ozie
(See Daisy Martin)
 Meyers, Hazel
DOCD-5430 Vol.1
(See Edna Hicks)
 Memphis Minnie(Lizzie Douglas, 1897-1973)
(See Kansas Joe)
 McCoy, Viola (1900-1956)
DOCD-5416 Vol.1
DOCD-5417 Vol.2
DOCD-5418 Vol.3 (Remaining tracks by Julia Moody)
 Miles, Josie (1900-?)
17
DOCD-5466 Vol.1
DOCD-5467 Vol.2
 Miles, Lizzie (1895-1963)
DOCD-5458 Vol.1
DOCD-5459 Vol.2
DOCD-5460 Vol.3
AMCD-73
 Miller, Luella
DOCD-5183 Vol.3
 Moody, Julia
DOCD-5418 (see Viola McCoy)
 Moore, Monette (1902-1962)
DOCD-5338 Vol.1
DOCD-5339 Vol.2
 Bennie Moten (Kansas city orchestra)
CYGNET 1004 (With Ada Brown, and Mary H. Bradford)
 Moore, Alice (Mae Smith)
DOCD-5290 Vol.1 (With St. Louis Bessie)
DOCD-5291 Vol.2 (With St. Louis Bessie)
O
 Odetta (Odetta Holmes, 1930-2008)
Vanguard 79557-2
P
 Parham, Tiny (“and the Blues Singers”)(1900-1943)
DOCD-5341
 Price, Sammy (“and the Blues Singers”)(1908-1992)
DOCD-5667 Vol.1
DOCD-5668 Vol.2
18
R
 Rainey, Ma (1886-1939)
DOCD-5156
DOCD-5581 Vol.1
DOCD-5582 Vol.2
DOCD-5583 Vol.3
DOCD-5584 Vol.4
 Robinson, Elzadie
DOCD-5248 Vol.1
DOCD-5249 Vol.2 (Remaining tracks by Lottie Beaman)
 Roland, Walter (1902?-1972)
(See Lucille Bogan)
S
 Scruggs, Irene (1901-)
(See Martha Copeland)
 Shayne, J.H. “Mr. Freddie”
(See Montana Taylor)
 St. Louis Bessie
(See Alice Moore)
 Smith, Bessie (1894-1937)
C2K 47091 Columbia/Legacy Vol.1
C2K 47471 Columbia/Legacy Vol.2
C2K 47473 Columbia/Legacy Vol.3
C2K 52838 Columbia/Legacy Vol.4
C2K 57546 Columbia/Legacy Vol.5
Frog DFG40 Vol.1
Frog DGF43 Vol.4
Frog DGF47 Vol.8
 Smith, Clara (1894-1935)
DOCD-5364 Vol.1
DOCD-5365 Vol.2
19
DOCD-5366 Vol.3
DOCD-5367 Vol.4
DOCD-5368 Vol.5
DOCD-5369 Vol.6
 Smith, Ivy
(See Cow Cow Davenport)
 Smith, Laura (?-1931)
DOCD-5429 Vol.1
(See
 Smith, Mamie (1883-1946)
DOCD-5359 Vol.3
DOCD-5360 Vol.4
CBL 200036
 Smith, Trixie (1895-1943)
DOCD-5332 Vol.1
DOCD-5333 Vol.2
 Spivey, Victoria (1906-1976)
DOCD-5316 Vol.1
DOCD-5317 Vol.2
DOCD-5318 Vol.3
DOCD-5319 Vol.4
(See Lonnie Johnson)
 Stewart, Priscilla
DOCD-5476
T
 Taylor, Eva (1895-1977)
DOCD-5408 Vol.1
DOCD-5409 Vol.2
DOCD-5410 Vol.3
 Taylor, Montana (1903-1954)
DOCD-5053 (With J.H. “Mr. Freddie” Shayne)
 Tharpe, Sister Rosetta (Rosetta Nubin, 1915-1973)
20
DOCD-5335 Vol.2
DOCD-5607 Vol.3
 Thomas, Hociel (1904-1952)
(See Lillie Delk Christian)
 Tucker, Bessie
DOCD-5070
 Turner, Lavinia
(See Virginia Liston)
W
 Wallace, Sippie (1898-1986)
DOCD-5399 Vol.1
DOCD-5400 Vol.2
 Waters, Ethel (1896-1981)
Classics 796 (1921-1023)
Classics 775 (1923-1925)
Classics 688 (1926-1929)
Classics 721 (1929-1931)
Classics 735 (1931-1934)
Classics 755 (1935-1940)
 White Georgia (1903-1980)
DOCD-5301 Vol.1
DOCD-5302 Vol.2
DOCD-5303 Vol.3
DOCD-5304 Vol.4
 Williams, Clarence (“and the Blues Singers”)(1898-1965)
DODC-5375 Vol.1
DOCD-5376 Vol.2
 Williams, George
(See Bessie Brown)
 Williams, Leona
DOCD-5523 (With Edna Winston)
 Wilson, Edith (1896-1981)
DOCD-5451 Vol.2 (With Leona Williams)
21
(See Johnny Dunn)
 Wilson, Lena (1898-1939)
(See Edith Wilson)
 Winston, Edna
(See Leona Williams)
Y
 Yancey, James E. “Jimmy” (1898-1951)&
Yancey, Estelle “Mama” (1896-1986)
DOCD-1007
Compilations & Singers
B
 Barrelhouse Women
DOCD-5378 Vol. 1
-Katherine Adkins
-Bertha Ross
-Evelyn Brickey
-Frances Wallace & Clara Burston
 Barrelhouse Women
DOCD-5497 Vol. 2
-Sodarisa Miller
-Alice Pearson
-Mattie Dorsey
-Star Page
 Barrelhouse Mamas
YAZOO 2044
-Cow Cow Davenport & Ivy Smith
-Mary Johnson
-St. Louis Bessie
22
-Lucille Bogan
-Dorothy Baker
-Bessie Tucker
-Elzadie Robinson
-Margaret Thornton
-Ida May Mack
-Margaret Whitmire
-Freddy Brown
-Leola manning
-Lil Johnson
-Doretha Trowbridge
-Elizabeth Washington
-Mozelle Alderson
 Better Boot That Thing/Great Women Blues Singers of
the 1920's
Bluebird 66065-2
-Alberta Hunter
-Bessie Tucker
-Victoria Spivey
-Ida May Mack
 Blues & Jazz Obscurities
DOCD-5481
-Sammie Lewis & Mandy Randolph
-Jenkins & Jenkins
-Margaret Whitmire
-Wiley & Wiley
-William Walker
 Blues Girl’s
DOCD-5503 Vol. 1
-Edna Johnson
-Sadie James
-Helen Beasley
-Coletha Simpson
-Julia Johnson
-Alura Mack
 Blues Girl’s
23
DOCD-5504 Vol. 2
-Katherine C. McDavid
-Margaret Thornton
-Mozelle Alderson
-Issie Ringgold
-Mary Dixon
 Blues Girl’s
DOCD-5646 Vol. 3
-Anna Lee Chisholm
-Cora Perkins
-Virgina Childs
-Eva Parker
-Lulu Jackson
-Ruby Smith
 Blue Ladies
DOCD-5327
-Irene Sanders
-Stella Johnson
-Hattie Bolten
-Minnie Mathes
-Kansas Katie
 Blue Ladies
Memphis Archives MA7017
-Edith Wilson
-Mamie Smith
-Clara Smith
-Bessie Smith
-Clementine Smith
-Sara Martin
-Maggie Jones
-Margaret Johnson
-Rosa Henderson
-Lucille Hegamin
-Ida Cox
-Dora Carr
-Mary Stafford
-Viola McCoy
24
-Ethel Ridley
-Trixie Smith
-Ma Rainey
-Ethel Waters
 Black Vocal Groups
DOCD-5632 Vol. 10
-Noble Sissle’s Southland Singers
-Norfolk Jazz & Jubilee Quartet
-Horace George’s Jubilee Harmonizers
-Paramount Jubilee Singers
-Biddleville Quinette
-Rev. C. D. Montgomery
-Grace Outlaw
-Ernia Mae Cunningham
-Daniel Haynes & Dixie Jubilee Singers
-W. C. Elkins & His Dextra Singers
-Aunt Jemima Novelty Four
-Southern Male Quartet
C
 Classic Blues & Vaudeville Singers
DOCD-5573 Alternate takes
-Ida Cox
-Trixie Smith
-Lucille Hegamin
-Priscilla Stewart
-Billie Young
 Classic Blues, Jazz & Vaudeville Singers
DOCD-5602 Vol. 2
-Flo Bert
-Katie Crippen
-Daisy Martin
-Lena Wilson
-Julia Moody
-Inez Wallace
25
-Ida Cox
-Alberta Hunter
-Hazel Meyers
-Viola McCoy
 Classic Blues, Jazz & Vaudeville Singers
DOCD-5626 Vol. 3
-Lucille Hegamin
-Lizzie Miles
-Hannah Sylvester
-Monette Moore
-Edmonia Henderson
-Sodarisa Miller
-Ida Cox
-Priscilla Stewart
-Ivy Smith
 Classic Blues, Jazz & Vaudeville Singers
DOCD-5627 Vol. 4
-Lillyn Brown
-Eliza Christmas Lee
-Marion Harrison
-J. Churchill
-Josie Harley
-Helen Baxter
-Mandy Lee
-Viola McCoy
-Lena Wilson
-Lillian Harris
-Edna Hicks
-Gladys Bryant
-Faye Barnes
-Bessie Brown
 Classic Blues & Vaudeville Singers
DOCD-5654 Vol.5
-Alberta Hunter
-Edna Taylor
-Bessie Smith
-Edna Hicks
26
-Helen Baxter
-Viola McCoy
-Emma Johnson
-Josie Miles
-Louella Jones
-Rosa Henderson
-Maggie Jones
-Butter Beans & Susie
-Eva Taylor
E
 Eddie Heywood & The Blues Singers
DOCD-5380
-Charles Anderson
-Guilford (peachtree) Payne
-Viola Baker
-“Sloppy” Henry
-Annie Summerford
-Catherine Henderson
-“Doc” Dasher
F
 Female Blues Singers
DOCD-5505 Vol. 1
-Ora Alexander
-Louise Anderson
-Mildred Austin
-Baby Bonnie
-Eloise Bennett
 Female Blues Singers
DOCD-5506 Vol. 2
-Baby Benbow
-Glory Bernard
-Flo Bert
27
-Mary H. Bradford
-Florence Bristol
-Lil & Will Brown
 Female Blues Singers
DOCD-5507 Vol. 3
-Marie Bradley
-Kitty Brown
-Josephine Byrd
-Alice Carter
 Female Blues Singers
DOCD-5508 Vol. 4
-Alice Leslie Carter
-Josephine Carter
-Margaret Carter
-Alta Cates
-Alice Clinton
-Anna Belle Coleman
 Female Blues Singers
DOCD-5509 Vol. 5
-Ruth Coleman
-Henryette Davis
-Louise De Vant
-Jessie Derrick
-Dorothy Dodd
-Maureen Englin
-Madlyn Davis
 Female Blues Singers
DOCD-5510 Vol. 6
-Dorothy Everetts
-Madam Hurd Fairfax
-Miss Frankie
-Hattie Garland
-Cry Baby Godfrey
-Lillian Goodner
-Georgia Gorham
-Ruby Gowdy
-Betty Gray
28
 Female Blues Singers
DOCD-5511 Vol. 7
-Fannie May Goosby
-Christina Gray
-Ruth Green
-Sadie Green
-Katherine Handy
-Marie Grinter
-Helen Gross
 Female Blues Singers
DOCD-5512 Vol. 8
-Josie Harley
-Lillian Harris
-Sister Harris
-Clara Herring
-Alma Henderson
 Female Blues Singers
DOCD-5513 Vol. 9
-Lena Henry
-Lethia Hill
-Mattie Hite
-Edmonia Henderson
 Female Blues Singers
DOCD-5514 Vol. 10
-Nellie Hite
-Jane Howard
-Bertha Idaho
-Mary Jackson
-Sadie Jackson
-Zaida Jackson
-Caroline Johnson
-Elnora Johnson
 Female Blues Singers
DOCD-5515 Vol. 11
-Flo Johnson
-Ruth Johnson
29
-Josephine Jones
-Mandy lee
-Genevieve Jordan
-Eliza Christmas lee
-Florence Lowery
 Female Blues Singers
DOCD-5516 Vol. 12
-Hattie McDaniels
-Helena Manley
-Anna Meyers
-Anna Oliver
-Dolly Perkins
-Kathryn Perry
-Teddy Peters
-Nettie Potter
-Evelyn Preer
-Sis Quander
-Nina Reeves
 Female Blues Singers
DOCD-5517 Vol. 13
-Nettie Robinson
-Laura Rucker
-Gertrude Saunders
-Mary Stafford
 Female Blues Singers
DOCD-5518 Vol. 14
-Helen Savage
-Clementine Smith
-Edna Taylor
-Georgia Taylor
-Unknown Artist
-Kitty Waters
-Florence White
-Gussie Williams
-Margaret Williams
-Billie Wilson
-Billie Young
30
 Female Blues
DOCD-1005
-Lavinia Turner
-Josie Miles
-Sister Harris
-Lena Wilson
-Hazel Meyers
-Viola McCoy
-Sara Martin
-Laura Smith
-Rosetta Crawford
-Rosa Henderson
-Ethel Finnie
-Monette Moore
 Fletcher Henderson & The Blues Singers Vol. 1
DOCD-5343
-Katie Crippen
-Lulu Whidby
-Essie Whitman
-Etta Mooney
-Mary Straine
-Isabelle Washington
-Maude De Forrest
-Emma Lewis
-Tudie Wells
 Fletcher Henderson & The Blues Singers Vol. 2
DOCD-5342
-Inez Wallace
-Hannah Sylvester
-Gladys Bryant
-Emma Gover
-Ethel Finnie
-Faye Barnes
I
31
 I Can’t Be Satisfied
YAZOO 2026 Vol. 1
-Ruby Glaze
-Hattie Hart with Memphis Jug Band
-Hattie Hudson
-Lottie Kimbrough
-Bertha Lee
-Memphis Minnie
-Bertha Henderson
-Mae Glover
-Rosie Mae Moore
-Lillian Miller
-Lizzie Washington
-Irene Scruggs
-Geeshie Wiley
-Bessie Tucker
-Lottie Kimbrough
-Jennie Clayton with Jug Band
-Pearl Dickson
-Elizabeth Johnson
-Mattie Delaney
 I Can’t Be Satisfied
YAZOO 2027 Vol. 2
-Victoria Spivey
-Clara Smith
-Martha Copeland
-Lucille Bogan
-Sara Martin
-Sippie Wallace
-Edith Johnson
-Ma Rainey
-Bertha “Chippie” Hill
-Katherine Baker
-Margaret Johnson
-Hattie Burleson
-Alberta Brown
-Madlyn Davis
32
-Ivy Smith
J
 Jazzin’ The Blues
DOCD-1019
-Ada Brown
-Ruby Smith
-Alberta Price
-Chippie Hill
-Lizzie Miles
 Jazzin’ The Blues
DOCD-5611 Vol. 4
-Phil Pavey
-Willie Lewis
-Edgewater Crows
-Corney Allen Grier
-Savannah Churchill
-Beverley White
-Richard Huey
-Billie Hayes
-Jack Sneed
 Jazzin’ The Blues
DOCD-5666 Vol.5
-Lizzie Miles
-Helen Proctor Baby Hines
-Babe Wallace
-Yack Taylor
-Monette Moore
-Blue Lu Barker
-Ann Cook
 Jazz & Blues on Edison
DOCD-1103 Vol. 1
33
-Lopez & Hamilton
-Genevieve Gordon
-Original Memphis Five
-Ethel Finney
-Andy Razaf
-Marjorie Royer
-Josie Miles
-Wilbur Sweatman’s Brownies
-Helen Gross & the Kansas City Five
-Viola McCoy
-Rosa Henderson
-Nobble Sissle with Eubie Blake
-Elsie Clark
-Bud Lincoln & his Orchestra
-Georgia Melodians
-Winegar’s Penn Boys
-Clarence Williams & Eve Taylor
-Mal Hallet’s Orchestra
 Jazz & Blues on Edison
DOCD-1107 Vol. 2
-Frisco “Jass” Band
-Lopez & Hamilton, Kings of Harmony
-Noble Sissle & Eubie Blake
-Ellen Coleman
-Elsie Clark
-Original Memphis Five
-Fletcher Henderson
-Georgia Melodians
-Emma Johnson
-Florence Brady
-Josie Miles
-Wilbur Sweatman’s Brownies
-Red & Miffs Stompers
-The Five Harmonies
-Joe Herlihy & his Orchestra
-Phil Napolean’s Orchestra
-The Sizzlers
-Eva Taylor
34
K
 Kansas City Blues
DOCD-5152
-Sylvester & Lottie Kimbrough
-Winston Holmes & Charlie Turner
M
 Memphis Blues
DOCD-5159 Vol. 2
-Ollie Rupert
-Walter Rhodes
-Pearl Dickson
-Madelyn James
-Charlie “Bozo” Nickerson
-Sam Townsend
-Hattie Hart
-George Torey
-John Barbee
P
 Porter Grainger
RST Records JPCD-1521-2
-Gladys Bryant
-Ethel Finnie
-Harmony Hounds
-Buddy Christians Four Cry-Babies
-Dolly Ross
-Ada Brown
-Clint Jones
-A.O.
35
S
 Sammy Price & The Blues Singers Vol. 1
DOCD-5667
-Ebony Three
-Bea Foote
-Harlem Stompers
-Yack Taylor
-Sweet Georgia Brown
-Ruby Smith
 Sammy Price & The Blues Singers Vol. 2
DOCD-5668
-Lether McGraw
-James Carter
-Nora Lee King
-Wee Bea Booze
-Herman Ray
 Songs We Taught Your Mother
Prestige/Bluesville OBCCD-520-2 (BV-1052)
-Alberta Hunter
-Lucille Hegamin
-Victoria Spivey
 St. Louis Girls
DOCD-5182
-Katherine Baker
-Lizzie Washington
-Elizabeth Washington
-Johnnie Strauss
T
 Tiny Parham & The Blues Singers
DOCD-5341
-Ardell “Shelly” Bragg
-W. Lawrence James
36
-Ora Brown
-Hattie McDaniels
-Sharlie English
-Daniel Brown
-Bertha Henderson
-Dodd’s & Parham
-Brady’s Clarinet Band
 Too Late, too Late
DOCD-5276 Vol. 3
-Buddy Boy Hawkins
-Side Wheel
-Sally Duffie
-Memphis Jug Band
-Lottie Kimbrough & Winston Holmes
-Jim Jackson
-William Harris
-Blind Lemon Jerfferson
-Charley Patton
-Mississippi Sheiks
-Memphis Minnie
-Curley Weaver
-Tampa Red
-Joshua White
-Leadbelly
-Casey Bill Weldon
-Ida Parham
-Two Gospel Keys
-Jessie Thomas
 Too Late, Too Late
DOCD-5660 Vol. 13
-Daisy Martin
-Juanita Stinnette Chappelle
-Archie Harrod
-Georgia Harvey
-Helen Baxter
-Norfolk Jubilee Quartet
-Viola McCoy & Billy Higgins
37
-Clarence Williams & Clarence Todd
-Ida Cox
-Trixie Smith
-“Ma” Rainey
-Katherine Baker
-Anna Bell
-Famous Hokum Boys
-Bert Howell
-Kokomo Arnold
-Bill Gaither
-Curtis Jones
-Joe Williams & His Chicago Swingers
-Creole George Guesnon
 Territory Singers
DOCD-5470 Vol. 1
-Roberta Dudley
-Ruth Lee
-Missouri Anderson
-Sadie McKinney
-Arah “Baby” Moore
-Ben Norsingnle
-Emma Wright
-Bertha Henderson
-Jeanette James
-Ada Brown
 Territory Singers
DOCD-5471 Vol. 2
-Ollie Ross
-Hattie Burleson
-Jewell Nelson
-Cleo Gibson
-David Pearson
-Mel parker
-Horace Smith
-Hattie Snow
V
38
 Vocal Blues & Jazz
DOCD-1012 Vol. 2
-Ethel Waters
-Lillian Harris
-Lizzie Miles
-Rosa Henderson
-Viola Barllette
-Sara Martin
-Betty Gray
-Laura Bryant
-Tiny Mayberry
 Vocal Blues & Jazz
DOCD-1015 Vol. 3
-Juanita Stinette Chappelle
-Eddie Gray
-Georgia Harvey
-Nettie Moore
-Eddie Hunter
-Birleanna Banks
-Marjorie Royce
-Irene Taylor
-Gertrude Dwyer
-Cora Green & Hamtree Harrington
-Lillie Delk Christian
-Evelyn Preer
-Nancy Walker
 Vocal Blues & Jazz
DOCD-1020 Vol. 4
-Albinia Jones
-Helen Humes
-Ethel Waters
-Alberta Price
-Betty Roche
39
References
While working on this project I consulted many reference
materials to provide better information on the artists included in this
index.
One of the best resources that helped me find dates for the
artists for the first section was Edward M. Komara's Encyclopedia of
the Blues. This definitive source clearly outlines every aspect of the
genre. For anyone doing serious research related to this topic I
personally recommend consulting this reference book first.
The following resources were used during this project.
Books
Bourgeois, Anna S. Blueswomen: Profiles of 37 Early Performers, with
an Anthology of Lyrics, 1920-1945. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1996.
Harrison, Daphne D. Black Pearls: Blues Queens of the 1920s. New
Brunswick, [N.J.]: Rutgers University Press, 1988.
Jackson, Buzzy. A Bad Woman Feeling Good: Blues and the Women
Who Sing Them. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005.
Komara, Edward M. Encyclopedia of the Blues. New York: Routledge,
2006.
40
About Mr. Dale
Mr. Jon-Mars Ryan Dale began working as a student
associate at UNCG’s Music Library during his
undergraduate program and fell in love with
librarianship. This led him to pursue a master’s degree
school in Library Studies at UNCG. Currently Mr. Dale is
in his last year of library studies and has enjoyed
opportunities exploring and creating within the library
profession thus far. Mr. Dale is looking forward to his
future as a librarian and hopes to continue developing
his craft to serve the diverse world we live in.
(Photo by Chip Newton)
41