Courtesy of the indispensable Yazoo Records, I first heard Bessie Tucker sing "Fort Worth and Denver Blues (click here for a sample)." Here voice blew me away. Astonishing.... Who is she, you might wonder?
Very little is known of the classic blues belter Bessie Tucker, a product of the folk and field holler vocal traditions of her native East Texas region. A woman whose petite frame belied the earthy power of her voice, her legend is largely founded on a bawdy 1928 Memphis session for the Victor label on which she was accompanied by pianist K.D. Johnson; the date yielded her best-known track, "Penitentiary" (sung in honor of an institution to which she was reportedly no stranger). A 1929 date followed, at which time Tucker disappeared from performing, apparently for good; no data exists on the later events of her life. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide (Answers.com)
Previews of her tracks can be heard here. Rhapsody apparently has full tracks, though it won't work with my browser. Maybe it will with yours...
God, I love the internet. So much that would have been lost is found again. Hear her sing now:
She has the most amazingly gorgeous contralto voice you ever heard. I really don't know much about her otherwise. At You Tube, kspm01 writes:
Bessie Tucker (no relative of Sophie Tucker) was a great, but largely forgotten blues singer in the twenties. On this recording for Victor, made on August 10th, 1929, she was accompanied by K. D. Johnson, piano; Jesse Thomas, guitar and an uncredited tuba player
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