Many women were pioneering musical artists who broke new ground and were important influences on those who followed in their footsteps. Unfortunately, many of these women were underappreciated, and their contributions were too often overlooked.

On August 10, 1920, New York cabaret singer Mamie Smith recorded a song for the white-owned Okeh Records called “Crazy Blues,” the first blues song recorded by a Black woman, thus breaking the color barrier in Black music recording. The record sold over 75,000 copies in its first month, despite threats to boycott the label, and paved the way for many Black blues artists.

On October 31, 1938, 23-year-old Rosetta Tharpe recorded “Rock Me,” which became an instant hit and made her the first commercially successful gospel rhythm and blues recording artist, blending aspects of Delta blues, gospel, and a bit of New Orleans jazz.

In 1944, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, as she was now known, recorded “Strange Things Happening Everyday,” showcasing her virtuosity as a guitarist, along with a bit of boogie-woogie piano and her gospel-tinged delivery. This recording is often called the first rock and roll record. There were many influential early blues and rock and roll artists, but Sister Rosetta Tharpe was perhaps the most original and most influential. Later rock icons like Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, and Jerry Lee Lewis were all hugely influenced by Tharpe’s guitar style, as were Keith Richards and Eric Clapton later on. And if you listen to the rockabilly of Carl Perkins, you can hear Sister Rosetta’s sound shining through. As Tharpe was reported to have said about rock and roll, “Oh, these kids in rock and roll. That’s just sped-up rhythm and blues. I’ve been doing that forever.”

Mamie Smith and Sister Rosetta Tharpe were pioneering artists, but by no means the only ones. Bessie Smith began her recording career in 1923, and Ma Rainey followed soon thereafter. Memphis Minnie also started her career in the late 1920s and is another example of an early Black pioneer renowned for her guitar work, which, at the time, was unusual since women were often discouraged from playing guitar.

It was women like these who paved the way for the emergence of Billie Holiday perhaps best remembered for her courageous decision to not only record but repeatedly perform the song “Strange Fruit” in her concerts. White radio stations refused to play the song. Nevertheless, it became a commercial success through word of mouth.

Carlene Ray was another pioneering figure, this time in jazz. In 1946, she joined the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, the first and most important all-women’s jazz band. As she liked to say, she wasn’t a female musician; she was a musician who happened to be female, with a degree from Juilliard to prove her point.

Big Mama Thornton blazed her own trail in rhythm and blues and rock and roll when she recorded the original version of “Hound Dog” three years before Elvis, placing it on the Billboard charts for 14 weeks. Willie Mae Thornton, born in rural Alabama, hit the road at 14 after her mother died of tuberculosis. A self-taught harmonica player and drummer, as well as a singer, she defined a blues style that underpinned much of rock and roll in the 1950s and beyond. She even co-wrote one of Janis Joplin’s biggest hits, “Ball and Chain.”

Women have seldom received the credit or recognition they deserved for their role in the birth of the blues, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll, largely because the major record companies, broadcast stations, and concert venues were white-owned and refused to record and play Black artists. Despite that, the songs, the power, and the artistry of these women cannot be denied or suppressed.

If you would like to hear more of the music of these pioneering women check out the one hour special I have posted on MixCloud

https://www.mixcloud.com/assv4u/women-pioneers-in-music/

 

 Ron Cooke is the author of a book of short stories and poems entitled Obituaries and Other Lies (available at Amazon); writes a well-received blog (ASSV4U.com/blog); and hosts a weekly radio show called Music They Don’t Want You to Hear on KTAL-LP in Las Cruces, NM.  He is also a founding director of A Still Small Voice 4U, a not for profit supporting arts, culture and community that presents folk concerts, sponsors artists, festivals and community groups. Ron is an avid cyclist, racer, blogger, sculptor and ne’er-do-well.