Woman with Guitar: Memphis Minnie's Blues

By Paul Gordon, Beth Garon, Paul Garon

Book Overview

Universally recognized as one of the greatest blues artists, Memphis Minnie (1897-1973) wrote and recorded hundreds of songs, among them the famous "Bumble Bee Blues," "I'm Talking About You," and "What's the Matter with the Mill?" Blues people as diverse as Muddy Waters, Johnny Shines, Big Mama Thornton, and Chuck Berry have acknowledged her as a major influence. At a time when most female vocalists sang Tin Pan Alley material, Minnie write her own lyrics and accompanied her singing with magnificent guitar-playing. Thanks to her merciless imagination and dark humor, her songs rank among the most vigorous and challenging popular poetry in any language. Although organized feminism was at it's lowest ebb, Memphis Minnie, a black working-class woman, called no man master, defied gender stereotypes, and exemplified a radically adventurous life-style that makes most careers of the '20s and '30s seem dull by comparison. Woman with Guitar is the first full-length study of the life and work of this extraordinary free spirit, focusing on the lively interplay between Minnie's evolving artistry and the African American community in which she lived and worked. Drawing on folklore, psychoanalysis, critical theory, women's studies, and surrealism, the Garons' inspired explorations of Minnie's songs illuminate the poetics of popular culture as well as the largely hidden history of working-class women's self emancipation.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0306804603
• ISBN13: 9780306804601
• Release Date: March 1992
• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Length: 332 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Essential for poets, feminists, music scholars & historians.

This much-needed study documents the life and work of Lizzie "Kid" Douglas, preeminent blues vocalist and guitarist, c. 1920-1950. Poets will appreciate the careful transcriptions and interpretations of Minnie's lyrics; scholars, the meticulous research; and feminists, the story line of a rough n' ready woman making her way in the music business. Fifty photographs of Minnie, her record contracts and sheet music, and period advertisements, further vivify this portrait of an African-American musical legend