MEMPHIS MINNIE & KANSAS JOE — 1929-1934 Recordings In Chronological Order ★ Volume 1 • 1929-1930 | DOCD-5028 (1991) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This is the first of four Document CDs devoted to the musical partnership that existed from 1929-1935 between Memphis Minnie, who was born Lizzie Douglas in Algiers LA, and Kansas Joe McCoy, a native of Raymond, MS. These records were cut between June 1929 and May 1930 for the Columbia, Vocalion, and Victor labels in New York, Memphis, and Chicago, where their brand of entertainment was well-received by the expanding African-American community. Joe McCoy is believed to have been Minnie's second husband, and musically speaking at least, the two were well-matched during their six-year partnership, during which their vocals, verbal exchanges, and combined guitar work enlivened dozens of very enjoyable recordings that still convey the immediacy of the African-American experience. Both individuals sang in a straightforward, bracingly honest manner, usually about human relationships, as discussed openly in "What Fault You Find of Me?," "I'm Talking About You," "Can I Do It for You?," and "She Wouldn't Give Me None." There are three distinctly different treatments of Minnie's "Bumble Bee Blues" (a conflation of human sexuality with the behavior of a member of the Order Hymenoptera later popularized by guitarist Muddy Waters); a sobering original version of "When the Levee Breaks"; a song about the card game known as "Georgia Skin" (described in detail for the Library of Congress a few years later by Jelly Roll Morton), and a dead-serious account of Minnie's personal run-in with spinal meningitis, accompanied by the Memphis Jug Band, a group which included guitarist Charlie Burse and jug-blowing specialist Hambone Lewis. Document's four volumes of Minnie's collaborations with Joe McCoy were released alongside another five volumes devoted exclusively to her own recordings; the rest of Joe's recorded output with his brother Charlie McCoy, various jug and skiffle bands, and the swinging Harlem Hamfats was also compiled by Document during the '90s and reissued the following decade. arwulf arwulf

Abridged from this album’s original booklet notes: Recording as Kansas Joe and Memphis Minnie at their 1929 debut recording session the couple cut six numbers, three featuring Kansas Joe as a vocalist, two with Minnie taking the vocals and the third found them duetting. These recordings weren’t afforded immediate issue but were released over a period of time. For example, the coupling Bumble Bee / I Want That was not on sale until some fifteen months later. It was to be the suggestive Bumble Bee (“Got the best stinger I’ve ever seen”) that was to make Memphis Minnie. So successful was the song that Victor “borrowed” Minnie to record a version fronting a caucus of the Memphis Jug Band. Vocalion then responded with Bumble Bee No. 2 and New Bumble Bee. The song was such hot property on the race market that in the last six months of 1930, unreleased recordings apart, there were no fewer than five versions, on three different labels, of Bumble Bee — three of which are present on this compilation. The sheer drive of the two guitars, the strength of imagery and intuitive awareness of one another’s musical needs made for a perfect team. Take a song like, When The Levee Breaks, that lyrically mirrors the harsh realities of living near the artificial river banks with lines like, “If it keep on raining, levee’s gonna break an’ all these people have no place to stay” whilst the twin guitar rhythms help create a complete fusion of feeling. On less intense, more hokum based numbers like She Wouldn’t Give Me None or Can I Do It For You a variant on the “Mama Let Me Lay It On You” theme) the duo display astonishing empathy in their guitar playing, most notably by Minnie. To quote guitarist Woody Mann on her technique “she seemed to be able to pick sounds from all around Memphis and integrate them into her playing”. As main vocalist Memphis Minnie can be heard on Mister Tango Blues and I’m Talking About You and give good insight into her ability to modulate her voice to suit the mood of the lyric. Whether it be slow meaningful blues or up-tempo lighter material she judiciously croaks, moans, twists and cracks her voice to achieve a fine sense of the dramatic. DOCD-5028
Tracklist :
1    Kansas Joe And Memphis Minnie–    I Want That 3:06
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Guitar, Vocals – Joe McCoy
2    Kansas Joe And Memphis Minnie–    That Will Be Alright 3:05
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Guitar, Vocals – Joe McCoy
3    Kansas Joe And Memphis Minnie–    Goin' Back To Texas 2:59
Guitar, Vocals – Joe McCoy, Memphis Minnie
4    Kansas Joe And Memphis Minnie–    'Frisco Town 2:50
Guitar – Joe McCoy
Guitar, Vocals – Memphis Minnie
5    Kansas Joe And Memphis Minnie–    When The Levee Breaks 3:08
Guitar, Vocals – Joe McCoy, Memphis Minnie
6    Kansas Joe And Memphis Minnie–    Bumble Bee 2:45
Guitar – Joe McCoy, Memphis Minnie
7    Memphis Minnie–    I'm Gonna Bake My Biscuits 2:50
Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
Guitar, Vocals – Memphis Minnie
8    Memphis Minnie–    Mister Tango Blues 3:34
Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
Guitar, Vocals – Memphis Minnie
9    Memphis Minnie–    She Wouldn't Give Me None 2:57
Guitar, Vocals – Kansas Joe McCoy, Memphis Minnie
10    Memphis Minnie And Kansas Joe–    What Fault You Find Of Me? - Part 1 2:41
Guitar [duet], Vocals [duet] – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
11    Memphis Minnie And Kansas Joe–    What Fault You Find Of Me? - Part 2 2:48
Guitar [duet], Vocals [duet] – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
12    Memphis Minnie–    I'm Talking About You 2:38
Guitar – Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
13    Memphis Minnie–    Bumble Bee (MEM-773) 2:49
Guitar – Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
14    Memphis Minnie And Kansas Joe–    Can I Do It For You? - Part 1 3:07
Guitar [duet], Vocals [duet] – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
15    Memphis Minnie And Kansas Joe–    Can I Do It For You? - Part 2 3:09
Guitar [duet], Vocals [duet] – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
16    Minnie McCoy And Joe Johnson (12)–    I'm Going Back Home 2:44
Guitar [duet], Vocals [duet] – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
17    Memphis Jug Band Vocal By Memphis Minnie–    Bumble Bee Blues (59993) 2:49
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Harmonica – Will Shade
Jug – Hambone Lewis
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
18    Memphis Jug Band Vocal By Memphis Minnie–    Meningitis Blues 3:14
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Harmonica – Will Shade
Jug – Hambone Lewis
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
19    McCoy And Johnson–    I Never Told A Lie 2:38
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
20    McCoy And Johnson–    Don't Want No Woman 3:11
Vocals [duet], Guitar – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
21    Memphis Minnie–    Georgia Skin 2:59
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
22    Kansas Joe And Memphis Minnie–    Don't Want No Woman I Have To Give My Money To (C-5817) 3:22
Vocals [duet], Guitar [duet] – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
23    Kansas Joe–    I'm Wild About My Stuff 2:55
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Guitar, Vocals – Kansas Joe