The Mystery of Geeshie Wiley:
A Blues Music Phantom and Legend.
- Little is known of her life, and there are no known photographs of her. Despite her influence and popular recordings in the early 1930s, particularly "Last Kind Words Blues," she remains a mysterious figure with no surviving portraits. She may have been born Lillie Mae Boone (November 14, 1908–July 29, 1950), later Lillie Mae Scott.
- Since very little is known about her life, she’s often been called a "phantom" of the blues. She may have been from Natchez, MS, worked in medicine shows in the 1920s, and possibly was married to musician Casey Bill Weldon. These stories exist, but can’t be confirmed.
- According to the blues historian Don Kent, Wiley "may well have been the rural South's greatest female blues singer and musician".
- She has six known tracks: "Last Kind Word Blues," "Skinny Leg Blues," "Pick Poor Robin Clean," "Eagles on a Half," "Motherless Child Blues," and "Over to My House" (the latter two with Elvie Thomas).
- Steve Leggett at Allmusic states, "Wiley's vocal on 'Last Kind Word Blues' is by turns weary, wise, angry, defiant, despairing, even wistful, and is simply one of the best performances in early country blues."
- It is believed that fewer than ten original copies of Wiley's records have survived.
- “If Geeshie Wiley did not exist, she could not be invented: her scope and creativity dwarfs most blues artists. She seems to represent the moment when black secular music was coalescing into blues.” - Don Kent, liner notes to Mississippi Masters: Early American Blues Classics 1927–35
- "Pick Poor Robin Clean" is performed in the film Sinners, directed by Ryan Coogler. Geeshie Wiley's original version of "Pick Poor Robin Clean" and its cover for the film are featured on the Sinners original motion picture soundtrack. #sinners
John said: I’ll post some YouTube links to her songs below! Check them out!
Thanks,
John/Still Livin' the Blues
🎶
#blues
#music
#femaleartist
#female
#history
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