Lizzie “Kid” Douglas, AKA Memphis Minnie (1897-1973) was the queen of country blues. Her strong voice and masterful fingerpicking on the guitar defied gender and genre constraints. Her influence and style of music laid the foundation for electric Chicago blues, R&B, and Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Lizzie “Kid” Douglas, AKA Memphis Minnie (1897-1973) was the queen of country blues. Her strong voice and masterful fingerpicking on the guitar defied gender and genre constraints. Her influence and style of music laid the foundation for electric Chicago blues, R&B, and Rock ‘n’ Roll.
History classes can get a bad wrap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.
Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Liz Smith, Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Lindsey Kratochwill, Sundus Hassan, Adesuwa Agbonile, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, and Ale Tejeda. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.
We are offering free ad space on Wonder Media Network shows to organizations working towards social justice. For more information, please email Jenny at pod@wondermedianetwork.com.
Listen to the accompanying playlist for this month here.
Follow Wonder Media Network:
To take the Womanica listener survey, please visit: https://wondermedianetwork.com/survey
Hello! I’m Allison Russell. I’m a Grammy nominated singer, songwriter, poet, and activist. I’ve been inspired by artists like Nina Simone and Edith Piaf who turned their faces into the blade of storm and roared back dignity and hope.
This month, I’m your guest host on Womanica.
Today’s musician is known as the queen of country blues. Her strong voice and masterful fingerpicking on the guitar defied gender and genre constraints. Her influence and style of music laid the foundation for electric Chicago blues, R&B, and Rock ‘n’ Roll. Let’s talk about Memphis Minnie.
Born Lizzie Douglas, Memphis Minnie, was born on June 3, 1897, in Mississippi. In 1904, her family moved to Walls, Mississippi, a small farming town just south of Memphis.
When Minnie was 8, she was gifted a guitar and by the age of 10, she knew how to play both the guitar and the banjo. Her parents nicknamed her Kid and she went around performing at local parties under the name “Kid” Douglas. But Minnie had dreams bigger than Walls, Mississippi. So when she was 13, she ran away from home and went straight to Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee.
As a young homeless teenager, Minnie performed individually and also joined jug bands and string groups that performed on the streets of Memphis. Her street performances led to her getting picked up to go on tour with the Ringling Brothers Circus. She traveled throughout the South and charmed the crowds with her music.
In the 1920s and 30s, the blues scene was dominated by men. Minnie was one of the very few women who successfully broke onto the scene. Minnie was in a league of her own - what distinguished her was her stage presence, her powerful voice, and the way she played guitar. While everyone else played seated, Minnie stood.
In 1929, Minnie married guitarist and mandolin player, Joe McCoy. The couple rebranded as Kansas Joe and Memphis Minnie and together recorded the hit single, “Bumble Bee”. Another one of their songs, “When the Levee Breaks”, wouldn’t reach mass popularity until several decades later in 1971, when Led Zeppelin covered the song.
In the 1930s, like many Black musicians at the time, Minnie and Joe set their sights on Chicago. Minnie and Joe wasted no time settling into the Chicago blues scene. In his book, popular American blues singer and guitarist Big Bill Broonzy, recounted how Minnie bested him in a guitar-picking contest shortly after she came to Chicago. He said that she could "pick a guitar and sing as good as any man I've ever heard”
Minnie’s arrival transformed the Chicago blues scene. She introduced country blues to an urban environment and added the bass and drums to her songs.
By 1935, Minnie and Joe had divorced. A few years after their split, Minnie met guitarist Ernest “Little Son Joe” Lawlers. They became music partners and later life partners. Minnie made some of her most enduring music with Little Son Joe, including her biggest song, “Me and My Chauffeur Blues” and her autobiographical, “In My Girlish Days”. Her songwriting was unique because she sang about her own dreams and desires, and did so in a manner that made listeners feel as though they were their own hopes and dreams.
Perhaps Minnie’s greatest claim to fame is being the first known person – male or female – to play the electric guitar. On New Years Eve in 1942, the writer Langston Hughes caught Minnie performing with her electric guitar in a Chicago club. Of the experience he wrote,
“Her gold teeth flash for a split second. Her earrings tremble. Her left hand with dark red nails moves up and down the strings of the guitar’s neck. Her right hand with the dice ring on it picks out the tune, throbs out the rhythm, beats out the blues. The electric guitar is very loud, science having magnified all its softness away.”
With the electric guitar, piano, bass, and drums, Minnie created what would later come to be known as the “classic” 1950s blues combination.
By the late 1940s, many clubs were only hiring younger, less expensive artists. Minnie struggled to find work and was eventually dropped by Columbia records. She continued making music in the 1950s but retired a few years later as her health and public interest in her music declined.
In the late 1950s, Minnie and Little Son Joe returned to Memphis. She occasionally made radio appearances but mostly lived a quiet life. Her last known performance was at a memorial concert for Big Bill Broonzy in 1958. A few years later, Minnie suffered multiple strokes that put her in a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
Memphis Minnie died on August 6, 1973, in Memphis, Tennessee.
Because of her unique sound, Minnie remains an inspiration to many musicians and was among the first to be inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame, in 1980.
All month long, we’re highlighting Black musicians. Womanica is a Wonder Media Network production. Special thanks to co-creators Jenny and Liz Kaplan, who invited me to guest host this month.
Talk to you tomorrow!