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Song o' the Day-"Muddy Water"
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New Orleans JAZZ NHP's Song o' the Day:
"Muddy Water"
Numerous interesting incidents occurred upon this day in history: the bottle opener was invented (1738), Harley Procter floated “Ivory Soap” (1878), Plennie Wingo began his backwards walk across America (1931), Ray Kroc opened the first burger-joint franchise (1955) and the NFL changed the color of its’ penalty flags from white to golden (1965)! Stupendous though these anniversaries be, my very favorite occurrence on April 15th is the birth date of Ms. Bessie Smith, the “Empress of the Blues”.
Born last of eight siblings in 1894 Chattanooga, TN, her Baptist Preacher father died shortly after, follower by her mother and two brothers in 1906. In 1912, young Miss Bessie “began performing as a dancer in the Moses Stokes minstrel show, and soon thereafter in the Rabbit Foot Minstrels, of which blues vocalist Ma Rainey was a member.” (biography.com) Ma Rainey’s (Mother of the Blues) influence steered Bessie toward that deserved “Empress” title with hits like: “Down Hearted Blues”, “Jailhouse Blues”, “Baby Won’t You Please Come Home”, “T'Ain't Nobody's Biz-Ness If I Do”, and of course, today’s pick, “Muddy Water.”
Meghan Swartz (artist, teacher, performer and recurrently on NCIS New Orleans) rendered this exquisite performance for our “Songs of the Mississippi River” CD in 2012.
From: Songs of the Mississippi River
Produced by: the New Orleans JAZZ National Historical Park
Written by: Peter DeRose, Jo Trent, Harry Richman/Sony ATV Tunes LLC.
Performed by: Meghan Swartz (vocals), Matt Hampsey (guitar)
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2013 NPS, photo: Bruce Barnes