Memphis Minnie

During Women's History Month, let us take a page and learn of Memphis Minnie.

Lizzie Douglas, known as Memphis Minnie. Born June 3, 1897 in Mississippi, however she claimed to have been in Algiers (a community in New Orleans), Louisiana but according to Census information she was born in Mississippi.

Regardless of where she was born, Memphis Minnie, the “Queen of the Country Blues” grew up in Walls, Mississippi in DeSoto County. She learned how to play the banjo at ten years old and the guitar a year later.

When she was thirteen years old she ran away from home to Memphis, Tennessee to live on Beale Street where she would sing on street corners for most of her teenage years.

In 1916 she would go on to tour the South with the Ringling Brothers Circus until 1920, when she returned back to Beale Street, Memphis which at the time had a thriving blues scene, where she would sing and play the blues (as well as being a member of the Memphis Jug Band) until she began performing with her second husband, Wilbur “Kansas Joe” McCoy in 1929.

She and him were discovered by Columbia Records while performing in front of a barber shop and she recorded her first song “Bumble Bee” (also known as “Bumble Bee Blues”) under the Columbia label.

The couple moved to Chicago, where Memphis Minnie lived for twenty-five years, often playing lead guitar in bands while standing, which was uncommon for guitarist to do at the time, as many of them performed while sitting.

It is also noted that Memphis Minnie was one of the first artists to use an electric guitar, in 1943, a year before Muddy Waters would do so and popularize it.

Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe would perform together for Columbia, Vocalion Records, and Decca until their divorce in 1935.

In 1940 Memphis Minnie recorded another hit, “Nothing in Rambling” and in 1941 Memphis Minnie recorded arguably her biggest hit “Me and My Chauffeur Blues” both under the Okeh label. Because of how the record labels work especially towards African-American artists, Memphis Minnie was never able to reap the financial benefits of her music and she and her third husband, Ernest Lawlars “Little Joe Son” moved back to Memphis, Tennessee in 1958 where they lived in poverty with the both of them performing at local venues, including the Red Light in Millington, with Little Joe Son playing drums for Memphis Minnie’s final recording session in 1959.

Little Joe Son died in Memphis, Tennessee on November 14, 1961 and Memphis Minnie died August 6, 1973. Both are buried at the New Hope Baptist Church Cemetery in Walls, Mississippi.

However, Memphis Minnie left a legacy that many people today are aware of, or even if someone is not aware of her name, they have heard her songs. Having written and released nearly 200 songs (the estimate is around 180), her songs influenced later artists such as Big Mama Thornton, Jo Ann Kelly, and Erin Harpe. 

“Can I Do it For You” was recorded by Donovan in 1965, Jefferson Airplane covered “Me and My Chauffeur Blues” in 1966, a 1971 cover version of “When the Levee Breaks” was recorded by Led Zeppelin, and Alabama Shakes covered “Killer Diller Blues” for the 2017 film “The American Epic Sessions.”

Memphis Minnie was among the first class inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980, in 2007 she was honored with a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in Walls, and in 2012 Memphis Minnie was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame.

On a side note: as far as music historians know, every recording Memphis Minnie has done is still available.