Memphis Minnie
Tracking down the ultimate woman blues guitar hero is problematic because woman blues singers seldom recorded as guitar players and woman guitar players (such as Rosetta Tharpe and Sister O.M. Terrell) were seldom recorded playing blues. Excluding contemporary artists, the most notable exception to this pattern was Memphis Minnie. The most popular and prolific blueswoman outside the vaudeville tradition, she earned the respect of critics, the support of record-buying fans, and the unqualified praise of the blues artists she worked with throughout her long career. Despite her Southern roots and popularity, she was as much a Chicago blues artist as anyone in her day. Big Bill Broonzy recalls her beating both him and Tampa Red in a guitar contest and claims she was the best woman guitarist he had ever heard. Tough enough to endure in a hard business, she earned the respect of her peers with her solid musicianship and recorded good blues over four decades for Columbia, Vocalion, Bluebird, OKeh, Regal, Checker, and JOB. She also proved to have as good taste in musical husbands as music and sustained working marriages with guitarists Casey Bill Weldon, Joe McCoy, and Ernest Lawlars. Their guitar duets span the spectrum of African-American folk and popular music, including spirituals, comic dialogs, and old-time dance pieces, but Memphis Minnie's best work consisted of deep blues like "Moaning the Blues." More than a good woman blues guitarist and singer, Memphis Minnie holds her own against the best blues artists of her time, and her work has special resonance for today's aspiring guitarists.
© Barry Lee Pearson /TiVo
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BD Music & Olivier Wozniak Present Memphis Minnie
Blues - Released by BDMUSIC on 6 Apr 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Memphis Minnie Vol. 5 (1940-1941)
Blues - Released by Document Records on 27 Sep 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Memphis Minnie 1944 - 1953 Volume 3
Blues - Released by Wolf Records International GmbH on 16 Jun 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Memphis Minnie Volume 1 The Complete Post-War Recordings In Chronological Order
Blues - Released by Wolf Records International GmbH on 19 Jun 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Complete Post-War Recordings In Chronological Order, Volume 2 (1946-1947)
Blues - Released by Wolf Records on 19 Jun 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe Vol. 2 (1930 - 1931)
Blues - Released by Document Records on 5 Apr 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rough Guide to Memphis Minnie - Queen of the Country Blues
Blues - Released by Rough Guides - World Music Network on 29 Jul 2022
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Queen Of The Blues
Blues - Released by Columbia - Legacy on 25 Aug 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hoodoo Lady (1933-1937)
Blues - Released by Legacy - Columbia on 9 Apr 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pickin' the Blues
Blues - Released by Catfish Records on 6 Oct 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Presenting Memphis Minnie
Blues - Released by Universal Digital Enterprises on 24 Jun 1929
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Her Greatest Tracks
Blues - Released by Blues Country Records on 23 Nov 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Queen Of Country Blues
Blues - Released by JSP Records on 1 Aug 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe Vol. 4 (1933 - 1934)
Blues - Released by Document Records on 5 Apr 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
When The Levee Breaks - The Best Of
Blues - Released by Brownbeats Records on 1 Jun 2010
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The First Lady of Blues (Digitally Remastered)
Blues - Released by Nub Music on 3 May 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Queen Of The Blues (1929-1941) (The Blues)
Blues - Released by Fremeaux Heritage on 30 Jul 2002
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
When the Levee Breaks - Greatest Blues Masters
Kansas Joe McCoy, Memphis Minnie
Blues - Released by Vintage Masters Inc. on 1 Sep 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Memphis Minnie Vol. 1 (1935)
Blues - Released by Document Records on 27 Sep 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Memphis Minnie Vol. 2 (1935-1936)
Blues - Released by Document Records on 27 Sep 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Best of Memphis Minnie
Blues - Released by Excess Music on 18 May 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo