MEMPHIS MINNIE AND BAND DONE BARRELHOUSE PIANO CARTWHEELS DOING THE JOE LOUIS STRUT

Memphis Minnie, the undisputed queen of blues in the 30`s & 40`s,
was a very unique character in the musical world to say the least.
She was renowned for being one of the most powerful purveyors of
blues music along the Chicago greats like Muddy Waters, Howlin`
Wolf & Big Bill Broonzy. She cut a tough persona which she prob-
aly would have needed being a black woman trying to be accepted
in what was then a very white dominated racist american society.
She was also a very tough competitor as a musician, her blues
guitar and unique contralto voice made her a crowd favoutite
in amongst the hardcore audiences of Chicago blues joints. I
can always picture Al Capone smoking a cigar with his hoods
in some smoke filled bar in the ghettos of Chicago everytime
i listen to some of Memphis Minnie`s tunes. Because her songs
were recorded so long ago, long before rock and roll came to
town, they are a bit rough and unpolished. I suspect the album
i have of Memphis Minnie comes off an old 78 recording. She is
best known as the songwriter of `When The Levee Breaks`, 40
years after she wrote it the giants of blues rock Led Zeppelin
covered it on their fourth album. Her version of the song is a
lot like Leadbelly, real fair dinkum acoustic pick blues, very
old but very influential. My favourite song of Minnie is a rol-
licking barrelhouse piano gem which is on the greatest hits al-
bum i have, it`s called JOE LOUIS STRUT. The song was record-
ed on the 22nd August, 1935, making it the oldest song i have
ever reviewed on this blog. It sounds like it was recorded live,
very rough around the edges & Minnie talks her way through the
song instead of singing it. Her backing band, whoever they were,
were egged on by a boisterous Minnie to roll out the JOE LOUIS
STRUTT and basically have a damn good time. I dont think there
are any words to the song, but whoever was jamming that day in
the club where Memphis Minnie was didn`t need vocals. JOE LOUIS
STRUTT is one of the great pieces of barrelhouse piano, despite
the fact it was recorded before my dad was born i believe it is
one cool piece of music which any piano player would adore.