Label: Document Records.
Release Date: March 18, 1997.
Releases: 1997, 2000, 2005.
Recording Time: 69 minutes.
Release Info: Studio Recording.
Recording Date: November 4, 1925 - January 22, 1930.
Styles: Classic Female Blues, Early Jazz.
Featured Artists: Mary Dixon, Katherine C. McDavid, Mozelle Alderson, Issie Ringgold, Margaret Thornton.
Blue Girls, Vol. 2 (1928-1930) contains a selection of material from the obscure female blues singers Katherine McDavid, Margaret Thornton, Mozelle Alderson, Issie Ringgold and Mary Dixon. For specialists and academics, there is some interesting music here, but for anyone else, the exacting chronological sequencing, poor fidelity and uneven performances make this collection of marginal interest.
Review by Thom Owens.
The success in the twenties of Ma Rainey, the blues singing Smiths (Mamie, Bessie, Clara and Trixie) and others like Ida Cox, Alberta Hunter, Lizzie Miles, Sara Martin and Bertha "Chippie" Hill, spawned a whole host of "want to be" female blues singers. It is no exaggeration to say that thousands of blues were recorded during that period, many by unknowns and, as one contemporary critic observed, "Every phonograph company has a colored girl recording". Which was hardly surprising since most black newspapers of the time were full of with notices detailing the exploits of vaudevillian singers and carrying advertisements from record companies boasting that they alone possessed ,'more colored artists than any other record manufacturer". Of these many young hopefuls, some went on to greater things but the majority didn't managing, at most, to only ever recorded a handful of songs; their main claim to posterity being an entry or two in record company ledgers. Listening to the caliber of the performances presented here adds to the mystery as to why these artists did not develop their recording careers further. Classic, Barrelhouse and Country Blues are all here and these women really know how to sing them.
Credits: Mozelle Alderson - performer, primary artist, speech/speaker/speaking part, vocals; Ed Allen - cornet; Alan Balfour - liner notes; Judson Brown - piano, speech/speaker/speaking part; Miles Davis - piano; Mary Dixon - performer, primary artist; Ernest Elliott - clarinet; Dorothy Fields - composer; J.C. Johnson - composer, piano; Jimmy McHugh - composer; Louis Metcalf - cornet; Johnny Parth - producer; Andy Razaf - composer; Albert Socarras - clarinet; Margaret Thornton - performer, primary artist; Gerhard Wessely - remastering.
Tracks: 1) Underground blues - Katherine C. McDavid; 2) Sweet woman blues - Katherine C. McDavid; 3) Texas bound blues - Margaret Thornton; 4) Jockey blues - Margaret Thornton; 5) Mozelle blues - Mozelle Alderson; 6) Sobbin` the blues - Mozelle Alderson; 7) Room rent blues - Mozelle Alderson; 8) State Street special - Mozelle Alderson; 9) Mobile Central blues - Mozelle Alderson; 10) Tall man blues - Mozelle Alderson; 11) Tight whoopee - Mozelle Alderson; 12) Tight in Chicago - Mozelle Alderson; 13) Dusky stevedore - Mary Dixon; 14) I can`t give you anything but love - Mary Dixon; 15) You can`t sleep in my bed - Mary Dixon; 16) Daddy you got ev`rything - Mary Dixon; 17) Old forsaken blues - Mary Dixon; 18) All around mama - Mary Dixon; 19) Black dog blues - Mary Dixon; 20) Fire and thunder blues - Mary Dixon; 21) Daddy, you`re a low down man - Mary Dixon; 22) Unhappy blues - Mary Dixon; 23) He`s a good meat cutter - Issie Ringgold; 24) Be on your merry way - Issie Ringgold.