Mother of the Blues
Born as Gertrude Pridgett in a poor neighborhood of Columbus Georgia in 1886, she was recalled by her family as “singin soon as she was talking.” Gertrude was raised in a showbiz family that performed minstrel and vaudeville shows. In 1904 and not quite twenty years old, she married song and dance man William “Pa” Rainey. From that moment she became known as “Ma Rainey”. Her husband ran one of these traveling minstrel shows and there she displayed her talent for the next 20 years.
During those times, black musicians and dancers took over the old minstrel shows. Ma and Pa traveled a circuit that was confined to the South, the Midwest, and went as far as Missouri, Arkansas and Texas. Every city had its segregated theater, and in the country there were tent shows. It was a humiliating picture of their own race, but there wasn’t many opportunities in the entertainment industry at that time until jazz and blues gained respect and popularity.
Like most beginning bloggers I was struggling with what might be a good idea for my very first post. I thought about going back and reflecting on icons like Robert Johnson and W.C. Handy. They were incredible human beings who motivated so many people. However, my influences come from people inspired by these delta bluesman. When I thought about this for a moment, I realized I had my first post …
In the middle of the night I was once again listening to those blues. (It helped on account of that darn dog) The soulful sound of The Butterfield Band’s album East West would be softly wailing into the night. The album was never successful commercially, but it was critically acclaimed. It would be an album that would be embedded into my mind until this day. I’ve listened to it several times lately, and considering this album is also over 40 years old, it surprisingly sounds fresh and unique today. I’ve enjoyed it enough that it helped inspire this blog.
When you look back and think of all the major influences when it comes to the electric blues in the mid to late sixties, you cannot ignore what Jimi Hendrix brought to the music scene. Not usually known as a blues player to the general public, there was no doubt to many of the musicians who played with Hendrix that he had a great blues feel. He was influenced by musicians like Albert King, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, and to a certain extent Clapton. Johnny Lee Hooker himself always considered Hendrix as a blues player.
