b. September 25, 1910, Como, Mississippi, d. October 22, 1968, Senatobia, Mississippi. The daughter of Sid Hemphill, Rosa Lee Hill grew up in a musical family, playing a broad repertoire for both whites and blacks. Her recordings are confined to blues, which she sang "from my mouth, and not from the heart", feeling them to be incompatible with her religious faith. Her blues are typical of Panola County, where she spent her whole life: accompanied by a droning guitar, her songs have an inward-looking, brooding feel, comparable to those of Mississippi Fred McDowell. Hill and her husband were sharecroppers and lived in dire poverty, particularly towards the end of their lives, when their house burned down and they had to move into a tumbledown shack.
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Rosa Lee Hill (b. September 25, 1910, d. October 22, 1968) was a blues musician. She was born Rosa Lee Hemphill in Como, Mississippi.
Hill played music that was in the tradition of north Mississippi, singing acoustic blues that made use of a broody feeling and subtly varied repetition. Her song "Bullyin' Well", which was recorded by Alan Lomax, has been included on a number of releases over the years. The daughter of Hill country blues musician Sid Hemphill, Rosa Lee learned guitar from her father and by the time she was ten, was playing dances with him. Several of her songs were recorded by Alan Lomax in 1959, including "Rolled and Tumbled." Hill and her husband were sharecroppers and lived in perpetual poverty; when their property burned down, they relocated to a tumbledown shack to live their remaining years. Her album, Rosa Lee Hill and Friends, was part of Fat Possum's campaign to reissue the recordings made by George Mitchell. It included Hill's niece, Jessie Mae Hemphill, as well as Jim Bunkley, Catherine Porter, Will Shade, Essie Mae Brooks, Precious Bryant, and Lottie Kate.
Hill died in October 1968, aged 58, in Senatobia, Mississippi.