Mary Johnson (March 29, 1898 or 1900 – July 20, 1983) was an American

classic female blues Classic female blues was an early form of blues music, popular in the 1920s. An amalgam of traditional folk blues and urban theater music, the style is also known as vaudeville blues. Classic blues were performed by female singers accompanied by ...

singer, accordionist and songwriter. Her most noted tracks are "Dream Daddy Blues" and "Western Union Blues." She wrote several of the songs she recorded, including "Barrel House Flat Blues", "Key to the Mountain Blues" and "Black Men Blues." Johnson worked with

Peetie Wheatstraw William Bunch (December 21, 1902 – December 21, 1941), known as Peetie Wheatstraw, was an American musician, an influential figure among 1930s blues singers. Early life and career William Bunch was the son of James Bunch and Mary (Burns) Bunc ...

Tampa Red Hudson Whittaker (born Hudson Woodbridge; January 8, 1903March 19, 1981), known as Tampa Red, was a Chicago blues musician. His distinctive single-string slide guitar style, songwriting and bottleneck technique influenced other Chicago blues gu ...

Kokomo Arnold James "Kokomo" Arnold (February 15, 1896 or 1901 – November 8, 1968) was an American blues musician. A left-handed slide guitarist, his intense style of playing and rapid-fire vocal delivery set him apart from his contemporaries. He got his ni ...

and

Roosevelt Sykes Roosevelt Sykes (January 31, 1906July 17, 1983) was an American blues musician, also known as "the Honeydripper". Career Sykes was born the son of a musician in Elmar, Arkansas. "Just a little old sawmill town", Sykes said of his birthplace. The ...

, among others. She was married to the blues musician Lonnie Johnson.

Biography

She was born in

Yazoo City, Mississippi Yazoo City is a U.S. city in Yazoo County, Mississippi. It was named after the Yazoo River, which, in turn was named by the French explorer Robert La Salle in 1682 as "Rivière des Yazous" in reference to the Yazoo tribe living near the river's m ...

. According to the researchers Bob Eagle and Eric LeBlanc, she was probably born Mary Smith in 1898, or possibly Mary Fair in 1900; other sources give her name as Mary Williams. Prior to her recording career, Johnson relocated to

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, in 1915, where in her teenage years she worked with several of the leading blues musicians of the time. She married Lonnie Johnson; the marriage lasted from 1925 to 1932. They had six children. She recorded twenty-two tracks between 1929 and 1936: eight songs in 1929, six in 1930, two in 1932, four in 1934, and two (her final recordings) in 1936. Her accompanists on these recordings included

, and

. Johnson worked in the St. Louis area until the mid-1940s. Her song "Key to the Mountain Blues" was recorded in 1948 by Jesse Thomas as "Mountain Key Blues." By the 1950s, Johnson had long since given up her career in music. She focused on religion and worked in a hospital. In 1960, she was interviewed by the blues historian

Paul Oliver Paul Hereford Oliver MBE (25 May 1927 – 15 August 2017) was an English architectural historian and writer on the blues and other forms of African-American music. He was equally distinguished in both fields, although it is likely that aficion ...

, and extracts from this interview were included in his book ''Conversation with the Blues''. Oliver stated, "Living with her mother Emma Williams in an apartment on Biddle Street, St. Louis, Johnson has known considerable poverty for many years." Johnson died in St. Louis in 1983, though some sources suggest 1970. All of her known recordings are on the

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

''Complete Works in Chronological Order, 1929–1936'', released by

Document Records Document Records is an independent record label, founded in Austria and now based in Scotland, that specializes in reissuing vintage blues and jazz. The company has been recognised by The Blues Foundation, being honoured with a Keeping the ...

in 1995.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Mary Year of birth uncertain 1983 deaths St. Louis blues musicians American blues singers American accordionists Women accordionists Songwriters from Mississippi Blues musicians from Mississippi People from Yazoo City, Mississippi Classic female blues singers 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women singers 20th-century accordionists

Biography

See also

References