MEMPHIS MINNIE & KANSAS JOE — 1929-1934 Recordings In Chronological Order ★ Volume 2 • 1930-1931 | DOCD-5029 (1991) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Memphis Minnie made an enormous number of recordings during the years 1929-1941, under her own name and in collaboration with her husband Kansas Joe McCoy. When in the '90s Document set out to reissue every known recording by these two artists, Minnie's primary work occupied one series of five chronologically arranged albums, her work with McCoy was presented in another sequence of four CDs under both of their names, and the rest of McCoy's output was trundled out in tandem on multiple discs with his brother Charlie and the Harlem Hamfats. Additionally, Minnie recorded with the Memphis Jug Band, Frank Stokes, Little Son Joe, Bumble Bee Slim, Washington "Bukka" White, Casey Bill Weldon, and Sunnyland Slim. Few blues musicians of their generation left such a large number of recordings fitting into so many different discographies. Volume two in Document's painstaking survey of the Memphis Minnie-Joe McCoy collaborations presents 23 Vocalion records dating from their arrival in Chicago in June 1930 to the end of January 1931. Never one to avoid singing about life's challenges, pains, and pleasures, Minnie deliberately devoted a nearly three-and-one-half-minute record to her experiences as a survivor of spinal meningitis. The "Memphis Minnie-Jitis Blues" was a remake of the "Meningitis Blues" which she recorded only days earlier on May 26 back home in Memphis with accompaniment by the Memphis Jug Band. On September 9, Minnie assembled her own Jug Band including players borrowed from the Jed Davenport Jug Band for the "Grandpa and Grandma Blues" and the "Garage Fire Blues." Everything else on this collection features the Lizzie Douglas (Memphis Minnie) and Joe McCoy (Kansas Joe) duo. These are some of the first records they made after arriving in Chicago fresh from southwestern Tennessee. They strum their guitars, take turns singing, or toss off duets ("She Put Me Outdoors," "What's the Matter with the Mill?"), with Minnie's "New Dirty Dozen" standing out as a strong female interpretation of a tune usually knocked off by salty male pianists. "Bumble Bee No. 2" was actually the fourth version of Minnie's song to be recorded during a fairly short time period. The equestrian "Frankie Jean (That Trottin' Fool)" is packed with inspiring guitar work and a nice bit of whistling by Minnie, while "She Put Me Outdoors" is reminiscent of instrumental duets by Lonnie Johnson and Eddie Lang (who, when paired with Johnson was billed as "Blind Willie Dunn"). Some listeners may also detect a probable taproot of John Lee Hooker's early technique. arwulf arwulf

Abridged from this album’s original booklet notes. This compilation represents Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe’s first encounter with the Chicago. Between June 1930 and January l931 the pair recorded on several occasions and cut several dozen titles. However, as a result of America’s slide into depression, most songs took many months to release and with the exception of the coupling, I Don’t Want No Woman I Have To Give My Money To / Cherry Ball Blues, nearly all songs recorded during June were left on the shelf. Subsequently they were issued with items from later sessions. Vocalion’s follow-up release, What’s The Matter With The Mill / North Memphis Blues, didn’t appear until November featuring titles recorded in October, the former ostensibly about a broken down corn mill but in reality sexual innuendo and the latter, apparently in praise of the culinary delights to be found at a Memphis cafe, is thought by some commentators to concern a house of ill repute! For their third offering the company coupled remakes of previous successes, Bumble Bee No. 2 / I’m Talkin’ About You No. 2 from June and July sessions – release date, January 1931! Despite the apparently arbitrary nature of the releases the period witnessed many accomplished recordings most notably, Memphis Minnie-Jitis Blues, which she sings with great passion about meningitis, The fact that she twice recorded this number, once with the Memphis Jug Band (DOCD 5028) and again with Kansas Joe, would tend to suggest personal experience of the illness. In general, however, this phase of their career tended to produce more traditionally based material serving to show the duo’s range of experience and versatility. Songs like the horse-calling Frankie Jean (That Trottin’ Fool) concerning a racehorse that wouldn’t come unless whistled to, whose running motions are mimicked by their guitar interplay, or the old vaudeville number, I Called You This Morning, which employs the same melody as that used for “‘Frisco Town” (DOCD 5028). The time-honoured theme, Preacher’s Blues, about the sexual antics of a woman stealing pastor perhaps harks back to their acquaintance with Frank Stokes while their version of the black toast, New Dirty Dozen, usually the province of male pianists, is sung by Minnie from a female perspective (“I’m pigmeat happy, now who wants me”), the standard piano accompaniment being recreated by the two guitars. With recordings like these Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe established themselves as an integral part of the Chicago blues scene; a scene that was growing with each black relocation from the south. DOCD-5029
Tracklist :
1    Memphis Minnie–    Memphis Minnie-Jitis Blues 3:20
Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
2    Memphis Minnie–    Good Girl Blues 2:55
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
3    Kansas Joe McCoy–    My Mary Blues 3:10
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
4    Memphis Minnie–    Plymouth Rock Blues 2:49
Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
5    Kansas Joe–    Cherry Ball Blues 3:09
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe
6    Kansas Joe–    Botherin' That Thing 3:14
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Vocals – Kansas Joe
7    Memphis Minnie–    Bumble Bee -- No. 2 2:50
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
8    Memphis Minnie–    Georgia Skin Blues 3:24
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
9    Memphis Minnie–    New Dirty Dozen 2:58
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
10    Memphis Minnie–    New Bumble Bee 2:49
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
11    Memphis Minnie–    Frankie Jean (That Trottin' Fool) 2:49
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
12    Memphis Minnie–    I'm Talking 'Bout You -- No. 2 3:13
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
13    Kansas Joe And Memphis Minnie–    She Put Me Outdoors 2:46
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
14    Kansas Joe–    Pile Drivin' Blues 2:44
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe
15    Kansas Joe And Memphis Minnie–    I Called You This Morning 2:57
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
16    Memphis Minnie And Her Jug Band–    Grandpa And Grandma Blues 3:22
Guitar – Unknown Artist
Harmonica – Unknown Artist
Jug – Unknown Artist
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
17    Memphis Minnie And Her Jug Band–    Garage Fire Blues 3:04
Guitar – Unknown Artist
Harmonica – Unknown Artist
Jug – Unknown Artist
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
18    Kansas Joe And Memphis Minnie–    What's The Matter With The Mill? 2:48
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
19    Memphis Minnie–    North Memphis Blues 2:32
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
20    Kansas Joe–    Beat It Right 3:24
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe
21    Kansas Joe–    Preachers Blues 3:11
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe
22    Kansas Joe–    Shake Mattie 2:36
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe
23    Kansas Joe–    My Wash Woman's Gone 2:24
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe