Page 35 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine 2021

Play the Blues

Big Maybelle Smith overalls, and was happy to physically defend her right to do
(vocals) so. Blues steel guitarist Sonny Rhodes told me, “We were all
Speaking of Jerry Lee Lewis, two years before his epic scared to death of her; she would beat your ass in a heartbeat
version, it was Big Maybelle Smith who recorded the and carried a derringer. [She] used to make me sit in her lap
original stomp-down version of “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ so she could braid my hair, and I never said, ‘no.’” He added,
On!” in 1955. “Willie Mae wasn’t scared of shit, you did not f—ck with her,
Born in Jackson, TN, in 1924, Maybelle was a classic blues ever.” Aside from her thundering voice and presence, she was
icon in the Bessie Smith tradition. Even though women of color also quite a good harmonica player and drummer. Thornton
and size belting out the blues were fading by the 1950s, she recorded for several labels; almost all her recordings are true
still had the Apollo Theatre crowd on their feet every show. gems. Her influences and idols included Bessie Smith, Mahalia
Her big hits were “Candy” and the hilarious smack-talking Jackson and Lizzie Douglas – a skinny, nervous guitarist from the
“Gabbin’ Blues.” A lifelong struggle with opiates and diabetes Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans, LA – better known as
cut her career short, but not before she recorded several dozen Memphis Minnie.
classics. Look for her in the documentary Jazz on a Summer’s Memphis Minnie
Day. Big Maybelle is often confused with... (guitar, vocals, songwriter, arranger, card player)
Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton The poet Langston Hughes described the sound of Memphis
(vocals, harmonica, drums) Minnie’s electric guitar as, “A musical version of electric welders
Born in Ariton, AL, in 1926, Big Mama Thornton was a five- plus a rolling mill.” That’s one man’s opinion.
star force of nature. She sang and recorded the original version Once again, we have an example of a criminally
of “Hound Dog” by Elvis and “Ball and Chain” by Janis Joplin. overlooked figure in the history of American music. Thanks to the
She was, in fact, Joplin’s #1, all-time biggest influence. She was blues revivals of the 1960s and ’70s, Memphis Minnie’s music
a tall and powerful woman – at one time, tipping the scales wasn’t completely lost and, in fact, traveled halfway around
at 400 pounds. Another pioneer of the LGBTQ community, Ms. the world and impacted a group of young British musicians
Thornton hated wearing women’s clothes. She usually wore nearly 40 years later. In 1971, Led Zeppelin hit the jackpot with

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