Memphis Minnie made an enormous number of recordings during the years 1929-1941, under her own name and in collaboration with her husband
Kansas Joe McCoy. When in the '90s Document set out to reissue every known recording by these two artists, Minnie's primary work occupied one series of five chronologically arranged albums, her work with McCoy was presented in another sequence of four CDs under both of their names, and the rest of McCoy's output was trundled out in tandem on multiple discs with his brother Charlie and the
Harlem Hamfats. Additionally, Minnie recorded with the Memphis Jug Band,
Frank Stokes, Little Son Joe, Bumble Bee Slim,
Washington "Bukka" White,
Casey Bill Weldon, and
Sunnyland Slim. Few blues musicians of their generation left such a large number of recordings fitting into so many different discographies. Volume two in Document's painstaking survey of the Memphis Minnie-Joe McCoy collaborations presents 23 Vocalion records dating from their arrival in Chicago in June 1930 to the end of January 1931. Never one to avoid singing about life's challenges, pains, and pleasures, Minnie deliberately devoted a nearly three-and-one-half-minute record to her experiences as a survivor of spinal meningitis. The "Memphis Minnie-Jitis Blues" was a remake of the "Meningitis Blues" which she recorded only days earlier on May 26 back home in Memphis with accompaniment by the Memphis Jug Band. On September 9, Minnie assembled her own Jug Band including players borrowed from the Jed Davenport Jug Band for the "Grandpa and Grandma Blues" and the "Garage Fire Blues." Everything else on this collection features the Lizzie Douglas (
Memphis Minnie) and Joe McCoy (Kansas Joe) duo. These are some of the first records they made after arriving in Chicago fresh from southwestern Tennessee. They strum their guitars, take turns singing, or toss off duets ("She Put Me Outdoors," "What's the Matter with the Mill?"), with Minnie's "New Dirty Dozen" standing out as a strong female interpretation of a tune usually knocked off by salty male pianists. "Bumble Bee No. 2" was actually the fourth version of Minnie's song to be recorded during a fairly short time period. The equestrian "Frankie Jean (That Trottin' Fool)" is packed with inspiring guitar work and a nice bit of whistling by Minnie, while "She Put Me Outdoors" is reminiscent of instrumental duets by
Lonnie Johnson and
Eddie Lang (who, when paired with
Johnson was billed as "Blind Willie Dunn"). Some listeners may also detect a probable taproot of John Lee Hooker's early technique. ~ arwulf arwulf