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 albums 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
28.12.24
MEMPHIS MINNIE & KANSAS JOE — 1929-1934 Recordings In Chronological Order ★ Volume 1 • 1929-1930 | DOCD-5028 (1991) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless
MEMPHIS MINNIE & KANSAS JOE — 1929-1934 Recordings In Chronological Order ★ Volume 2 • 1930-1931 | DOCD-5029 (1991) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless
Abridged from this albums original booklet notes. This compilation represents Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joes 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
MEMPHIS MINNIE & KANSAS JOE — 1929-1934 Recordings In Chronological Order ★ Volume 3 • 1931-1932 | DOCD-5030 (1991) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless
The third volume in Document's series picks up in early 1931, with the Depression era in full swing; although Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe were still actively recording, very little of their material was actually seeing release. Ironically, these were some of the duo's finest sides to date, with Minnie's vocals and guitar work achieving new peaks of poignancy and intensity; with "Shake Mattie" and "My Wash Woman's Gone," she introduces her bottleneck style, while on "Let's Go to Town" she and Joe face off in a fiery instrumental duel. The latter half of the collection, recorded in New York, focuses on more traditional material; their rendition of the minstrel song "Fishin' Blues" is widely assumed to be the inspiration for subsequent versions by Son House, Bumble Bee Slim and many others. Jason Ankeny
From this albums booklet notes: At the dawn of 1931 sales of race records were in sharp decline. Companies who six months previously had pressed in the region of 2,000 copies per record had cut that almost by half. Industry figures of the time showed that race records only accounted for about one percent of total sales, a very significant drop from the previous year. It was in this climate, and the period covered by this compilation, that Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe continued to record. A measure of the seriousness of the situation as it affected them can probably be gauged by their output; barely thirty titles recorded, at least half a dozen of which never saw release. Despite all this the quality of their recordings didn’t appear to suffer and, if anything, seemed to draw from Minnie a renewed sense of personal intensity both in lyric and playing.
The poignant, Crazy Crying Blues, with its terse lyric, ‘crying’ verse endings and moaned choruses almost echoing the blues of female singers of the twenties. The superb instrumental, Let’s Go To Town, couldn’t be better named with its rhythmic imagination and subtle tempo changes, the sheer drive of the piece creating the motion of an express train a sort of “Honky Tonk Train” with two guitars. The period also witnessed Memphis Minnie adopt the bottleneck, or slide, guitar technique which she probably learnt from her first husband, Casey Bill Weldon, as can be heard on Kansas Joe‘s Shake Mattie and My Wash Woman’s Gone, the former containing perhaps the first reference in blues to, “Shake, rattle and roll”! For reasons best known to the company they switched Memphis Minnie and Joe McCoy‘s recording location from Chicago to New York where the pair had first recorded three years earlier.
If 1931 had been short on sessions, the following year was worse with only a dozen titles recorded over a two day period during February. The material cut favoured more traditionally based themes as Jailhouse Trouble Blues, Joliet Bound (a blues by Joe concerning the notorious prison) and Fishin’ Blues, the latter a minstrel song long associated with Texas having been collected there in the early twenties by musicologist Walter Prescott Webb and first commercially recorded by songster, Henry ‘Ragtime’ Thomas. DOCD-5030
Tracklist :
1 Memphis Minnie– I Don't Want That Junk Outa You 2:22
Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
2 Memphis Minnie– Crazy Cryin' Blues 3:26
Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
3 Memphis Minnie– Tricks Ain't Walking No More 2:48
Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
4 Memphis Minnie– Don't Bother It 3:08
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals – Memphis Minnie
5 Memphis Minnie– Today Today Blues 2:46
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals – Memphis Minnie
6 Memphis Minnie– Lay My Money Down (If You Run Around) 2:55
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
7 Memphis Minnie– Hard Down Lie 2:40
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
8 Kansas Joe And Memphis Minnie– Somebody's Got To Help You 3:08
Guitar, Vocals – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
9 Kansas Joe And Memphis Minnie– Pickin' The Blues 3:02
Guitar – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
10 Kansas Joe And Memphis Minnie– Let's Go To Town 3:07
Guitar – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
11 Memphis Minnie– Soo Cow Soo 2:37
Guitar – Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
12 Memphis Minnie– After While Blues 2:51
Mandolin – Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
13 Memphis Minnie– Fishin' Blues 2:55
Guitar – Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
14 Memphis Minnie– Jailhouse Trouble Blues 3:12
Guitar – Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
15 Memphis Minnie– Outdoor Blues 3:00
Guitar – Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
16 Memphis Minnie– Where Is My Good Man 2:59
Guitar – Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
17 Memphis Minnie– You Stole My Cake 2:56
Vocals, Guitar – Joe McCoy, Memphis Minnie
18 Memphis Minnie– Kind Treatment Blues 2:46
Guitar – Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
19 Kansas Joe– You Know You Done Me Wrong 3:07
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe
20 Kansas Joe– Joliet Bound 3:06
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe
21 Kansas Joe– Stranger's Blues 2:50
Guitar – Memphis Minnie
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe
22 Memphis Minnie– Socket Blues 2:55
Guitar – Kansas Joe
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
MEMPHIS MINNIE & KANSAS JOE — 1929-1934 Recordings In Chronological Order ★ Volume 4 • 1933-1934 | DOCD-5031 (1991) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless
Abridged from this albums original booklet notes After a gap of almost two years Memphis Minnie returned to the studio in November 1933 but this time it was as a solo artist. The session only produced four numbers of which two were commercially released. My Butcher Man, a double-entendre employing some nice ‘meat cutting’ imagery (“slice my pork chop, grind my sausage too” etc) and culminating in the vivid,
If anybody ask you “butcher man where you bin?”, Show them that long bladed knife, tell ’em you’ve bin butchering out in that slaughter pen.
was coupled with the outstanding, Too Late, a blues that in structure and attack owed more to Mississippi than Memphis or Chicago, the superb guitar accompaniment so reminiscent of Mattie Delaney. Four months later, in March 1934, she returned to record a further two titles, Stinging Snake Blues and Drunken Barrel House, again without Joe McCoy. The reasons behind Joe McCoy‘s disappearance from the recording scene have never been explained, though artists who knew the couple reported that Joe couldn’t come to terms with Minnie’s success and as such was putting a strain on the marriage. However, they must have resolved their problems because in August 1934 they signed to the newly formed Decca label. The company policy was to undercut existing race labels by pricing all records at 35 cents. This was justified by maintaining that corresponding cuts in overheads would be achieved by keeping as many recordings as possible to a single take. In practice though this seldom happened as the two takes of Keep It To Yourself prove. It was in this climate that Memphis Minnie and Joe McCoy came to record their initial sessions for Decca and over a two month period they cut a mixture of duets and solo items. The reconciliation, however, was short lived and following their last recording, the magnificent if slightly prophetic, Moanin’ The Blues, they parted permanently. Ironically the split was to coincide with a shift in the tastes of black record buyers who were demanding less traditional sounds and more ‘swing’. Joe McCoy forged a career for himself under his own name, finally teaming up with the Harlem Hamfats and Memphis Minnie embarked upon a very busy recording career which will be covered by further discs in this series. DOCD-5031
Tracklist :
1 Memphis Minnie– My Butcher Man 2:58
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
2 Memphis Minnie– Too Late 2:56
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
3 Memphis Minnie– Ain't No Use Trying To Tell On Me 3:11
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
4 Memphis Minnie– Stinging Snake Blues 3:01
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
5 Memphis Minnie– Drunken Barrel House Blues 2:50
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
6 The Mississippi Mudder (Mud Dauber Joe)– I Got To Have A Little More 3:16
Piano – Chuck Segar
Vocals – Unknown Artist
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
Washboard [Prob.] – Unknown Artist
7 The Mississippi Mudder (Mud Dauber Joe)– Someday I'll Be In The Clay 3:12
Piano – Jimmie Gordon
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
Washboard [Prob.] – Unknown Artist
8 Kansas Joe McCoy– Evil Devil Woman Blues 3:10
Guitar [Poss.] – Charlie McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
9 Kansas Joe McCoy– Going Back Home Blues 3:02
Guitar [Poss.] – Charlie McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
10 Kansas Joe McCoy– Meat Cutter Blues 2:52
Guitar [Poss.] – Charlie McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
11 Memphis Minnie And Kansas Joe– You Got To Move - Part I 3:02
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
12 Memphis Minnie– Keep It To Yourself 2:47
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
13 Memphis Minnie– Keep It To Yourself 2:55
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
14 Memphis Minnie– Chickasaw Train Blues (Low Down Dirty Thing) 3:15
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
15 Memphis Minnie– Banana Man Blues (I Don't Want That Thing) 3:02
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
16 Memphis Minnie And Kansas Joe– You Got To Move - Part II 2:47
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
17 Memphis Minnie And Kansas Joe– Hole In The Wall 3:11
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
18 Memphis Minnie And Kansas Joe– Give It To Me In My Hand (Can I Go Home With You) 3:25
Vocals, Guitar – Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie
19 Memphis Minnie– Squat It 2:48
Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
20 Memphis Minnie– Moaning The Blues 3:05
Guitar – Kansas Joe McCoy
Vocals, Guitar – Memphis Minnie
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KOKOMO ARNOLD — Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order ★ Volume 1 : 1930-1935 | DOCD-5037 (1991) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless
All of Kokomo Arnold's 1930s recordings have been made available on four Document CDs. Vol. 1 features the singer/guitarist on two songs...