Big Maybelle

Male anger & frustration expressed in music constitute the cornerstones of the blues and rock mythology. Anger expressed by women is not talked about in the same larger-than-life, these-are-universal-feelings kind of way. For some reason, I started to listen to female blues artists some years ago. Memphis Minnie, Ida Cox, Bessie Smith, Victoria Spivey, Ma Rainey, Big Mama Thornton. And Billie Holiday. That kind of stuff. From the 20's and onwards, up to the sixties, there is a treasure of music to be explored. Barrellhouse blues, gospel, soul, rhytm and blues - and later on, rock n' roll. The maxim cherished by these ladies is far superior to Kant's: "Wild women don't worry / Wild women don't have no blues." The themes they chronicle reflect a rough reality: doing cocaine,  no-nonsense sex, leaving town, oppression, disappointment in men, a world without men, and drinking til' you can't drink no more. These artists are very rarely discussed - not in the same way as Muddy Waters or Son House or yeah, some other blues man with a reputation of Edge. I'm listening to an artist called Big Maybelle. I'd never heard about her until I found a dusty copy of The complete Okeh sessions 1952-55 at the local music library. This singer is angrier than anyone I heard in a long time. She has a raw, expressive voice that is unlike anyone else's. The arrangements are perfect examples of what rock n' roll was like before types like Elvis were around: growling saxophones, screaming guitars, sleazy piano in the background, pounding drums. Big Maybelle was born in 1924. In the beginning of her career, she toured with an all-girl band. She had several chart hits in the 50's. Sadly, she stopped performing during the sixties and she died young.

Read more about female blues artists here.