Martha Copeland, 20s-era blues singer

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 05:06:20 -0800

Though Bessie Smith is regarded as the queen of the early blues singers, Martha Copeland was singing the blues and its variants (and doing a fine job of it) back in the 20s as well. Head over to Internet Archive to hear Martha sing her versions of two of the tunes that made Bessie so famous: I Ain't Got Nobody and St. Louis Blues, the latter with backing vocal chorus from the Hall Johnson Choir. Check out her Dying Crap Shooter's Blues and Sorrow Valley Blues. And there's plenty of Martha Copeland goodness for your ears (RealPlayer) here and here. I've only been able to find one photograph of Martha Copeland: it graces the jacket of this Document Records release. The Internet Archive links to "I Ain't Got Nobody" and "St. Louis Blues" in this post are originally from a radio show, year 1928, which you can hear at the 20 minute point of this WFMU "Thomas Edison's Attic" broadcast of The Eveready Hour. From the excellent Honey Where You Been So Long (prewarblues.org): "Martha Copeland was a highly successful artist, whose talents were mismanged and wasted by Columbia. Copeland’s wonderful voice was often used to record substandard sides and copies of current hits by Bessie Smith and others rather than promoting her own work. Copeland became famous - but never of the level that her talent would have allowed. Copeland’s body of work is also lessened by the choices others made for her, but on her stand out tracks you can see how much talent and skill she possessed." Meanwhile, here's more great Bessie Smith for your listening pleasure: Gimme a Pigfoot, Yellowdog Blues, Mountaintop Blues, Downhearted Blues and A Good Man is Hard To Find.

103 DISEASES CURABLE BY COW URINE

bigmusic — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 22:27:15 -0800

Cow piss heals (a guide)

MetaFilter posts tagged with bessie

Martha Copeland, 20s-era blues singer

103 DISEASES CURABLE BY COW URINE