Memphis Minnie: A Female Blues Artist In The 1960's

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Back when blues music first began making the scene, it was mostly dominated by male musicians. It was quite unlikely that one would find a female blues musician that had made it to the big leagues, let alone one that wrote her own songs and played guitar, until Memphis Minnie came along. Memphis Minnie was a revolutionary musician in her era, tearing apart the patriarchy and proving that women can make it big in a male-dominated genre. Female blues talent was prevalent in the early nineties, but public recognition was quite limited . Up until Memphis Minnie came along, it was very rare that one would see a young female blues artist playing on the streets as Minnie would. Back when Minnie first began playing on the streets in Tennessee, it was essentially taboo for women to play guitar in public . Yet, Memphis Minnie ignored this notion, proving to female blues artists all over that just like men, women can play the guitar in public, inspiring a young generation of blues artists to come out of the shadows and start playing to the public. …show more content…
Minnie’s style evolved year after year, and near the end of her career when she was forced to retire due to illness, Minnie managed to record the country blues, the urban blues, the Melrose sound, the Chicago blues and the postwar blues. Minnie had created an extensive recording history for herself, yet somehow there is very little documentation for such a lengthy career . Nonetheless, Memphis Minnie’s career was outstanding and unforgetful to blues musicians around the globe, with Minnie inspiring future generations to