This biography traces the life and career of Memphis Minnie (1897-1973). It begins with an overview of the development of the blues during her lifetime and how she stretched the boundaries of
its forms, then outlines her life from her birth to her death. It then analyzes her songs as products of a specific cultural moment that involved conflicting forces of gender, race, and class,
focusing on themes and ideas in the lyrics of groups of songs, such as crime, doctors and disease, food and cooking, horses, trains and travel, love, and work. This edition has been revised and
expanded to incorporate new biographical material, including the names and dates of her nightclub and theater appearances, photos, new and corrected data about her place of birth and early
childhood, record contracts, sheet music, and period advertisements, as well as an updated discography that includes all albums issued since 1992 and appearances on compilation CDs. Annotation
©2014 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
