1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:06,080 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hey y'all, I'm Eves and you're listening to 3 00:00:06,160 --> 00:00:08,760 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class, a show that takes history 4 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:23,160 Speaker 1: and squeezes it into biteside stories. Today is June. The 5 00:00:23,239 --> 00:00:28,640 Speaker 1: day was June three, blues singer and guitarists Memphis Mini 6 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:32,280 Speaker 1: was born. She was one of the most influential blues 7 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:34,800 Speaker 1: artists in the US from the nineteen twenties to the 8 00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:39,600 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties. Though I'm covering her today, scholarly opinion differs 9 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:43,400 Speaker 1: on the exact day and year of her birth. Memphis 10 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:47,239 Speaker 1: Mini was born Lizzie Douglas. In her song Nothing in Rambling, 11 00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:50,120 Speaker 1: she says that she was born in Louisiana and raised 12 00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:53,680 Speaker 1: in Algiers, but US since this records indicate that she 13 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:56,760 Speaker 1: was born in Mississippi and raised in a small farming 14 00:00:56,760 --> 00:01:00,920 Speaker 1: community south of Memphis, Tennessee. She learned to play the 15 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:04,000 Speaker 1: banjo and guitar as a child, and she was much 16 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:07,440 Speaker 1: more interested in music than she was informing. When she 17 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:09,959 Speaker 1: was a teenager, she left home to move to Bill 18 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:14,200 Speaker 1: Street in Memphis, Memphis. Many began playing music on the 19 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:18,000 Speaker 1: streets with jug bands and string groups. She also performed 20 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:22,760 Speaker 1: at Church Park. By she had married and was performing 21 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:26,919 Speaker 1: with blues musician Joe McCoy. That year, a talent scout 22 00:01:26,959 --> 00:01:30,200 Speaker 1: from Columbia Records discovered them and they recorded the song 23 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:34,000 Speaker 1: Bumble Bee Blues, which became one of Memphis Many's most 24 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:38,240 Speaker 1: popular songs. Over the years, she recorded several different versions 25 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:41,720 Speaker 1: of the song for different labels. The couple continued to 26 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:45,319 Speaker 1: produce records together, and they grew more popular in and 27 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:49,400 Speaker 1: outside of Memphis. They garnered so much attention that they 28 00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:52,400 Speaker 1: moved to Chicago, making a name for themselves on the 29 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:56,160 Speaker 1: popular blues scene in the city. She and blues musician 30 00:01:56,280 --> 00:01:59,000 Speaker 1: Big Bill Brumsey went head to head in a guitar 31 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:01,960 Speaker 1: contest in a night club one time, and Many took 32 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:05,920 Speaker 1: the prize. She also took on artists like Tampa Red, 33 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:11,720 Speaker 1: sunny Land Slam, and Muddy Waters. Around nineteen five, Minnie 34 00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 1: and McCoy broke up. At the same time, Memphis, Mini 35 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:18,560 Speaker 1: was getting more work as a guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. 36 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:21,720 Speaker 1: She toured a lot in the nineteen thirties, especially in 37 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:24,440 Speaker 1: the South. She stood out as a woman in a 38 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:27,640 Speaker 1: male dominated music scene, but she also stood out for 39 00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:32,799 Speaker 1: playing new music styles and with different instruments. She worked 40 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:36,400 Speaker 1: regularly for talent scout and producer Lester mel Rose, who 41 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:39,200 Speaker 1: created a kind of formula for his blues offerings and 42 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:43,280 Speaker 1: toned down Mini's music. In the late nineteen thirties, she 43 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:48,040 Speaker 1: married Ernest Little son, Joe Lawler's, another musician. They made 44 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:51,880 Speaker 1: some of Many's most memorable songs together, including Me and 45 00:02:51,919 --> 00:02:56,519 Speaker 1: My Chauffeur Blues and her autobiographical song In My Girlish Days. 46 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:00,880 Speaker 1: Many formed a vaudeville troupe to tour theater and organized 47 00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:04,480 Speaker 1: Blue Monday shows at Ruby Lee Gatewood's tavern, a blues 48 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:07,000 Speaker 1: club on the South Side of Chicago that patrons knew 49 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:11,359 Speaker 1: as the Gates. She played a national electric arch top guitar, 50 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:15,560 Speaker 1: bridging the transition from acoustic Delta blues to Chicago blues. 51 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:19,720 Speaker 1: Poet Langston Hughes described her electric guitar as quote a 52 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:24,400 Speaker 1: musical version of electric welders plus a rolling mill. Muddy 53 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:29,239 Speaker 1: water song Honeybee was a reworking of Mini's Bumblebee. Though 54 00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:32,520 Speaker 1: Many found success, the record industry and club owners did 55 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:36,880 Speaker 1: take advantage of her. In ninety three, Many released her 56 00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:40,280 Speaker 1: last commercial recordings, Kissing in the dark and world of trouble. 57 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 1: The audience's taste had straight away from her acoustic blue sound. 58 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:48,960 Speaker 1: Many and some of her contemporaries found renewed interests. But 59 00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:52,320 Speaker 1: in the nineteen fifties her health was failing. She moved 60 00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:54,720 Speaker 1: to Memphis and her sister Daisy helped take care of 61 00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:58,440 Speaker 1: her After her husband died. She was affected by a 62 00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:02,560 Speaker 1: number of medical complications in her later years. Fans sent 63 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:06,640 Speaker 1: money and musicians held benefits to help her. She died 64 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 1: of a stroke in August of nineteen seventy three. Some 65 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:13,760 Speaker 1: of the musicians influenced by Memphis Many include her niece 66 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:18,640 Speaker 1: Laverne Baker, Body Rate, and Rory Block. Memphis. Mini was 67 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:21,360 Speaker 1: one of the first twenty artists inducted into the Blues 68 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:24,320 Speaker 1: Hall of Fame when the Blues Foundation established it in 69 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:28,479 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty I'm e chef Code and hopefully you know 70 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:31,320 Speaker 1: a little more about history today than you did yesterday. 71 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:34,400 Speaker 1: And if you have any comments, oar suggestions, you can 72 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:36,560 Speaker 1: send them to us at this day at I heard 73 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:39,160 Speaker 1: media dot com. You can also hit us up on 74 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:44,080 Speaker 1: social media. We're at t D I HC podcast. Thanks 75 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:46,279 Speaker 1: so much for listening to the show. And we'll see 76 00:04:46,279 --> 00:04:56,279 Speaker 1: you tomorrow. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit 77 00:04:56,279 --> 00:04:58,800 Speaker 1: the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 78 00:04:58,800 --> 00:04:59,919 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.