'All they want is my voice': the real story of 'Mother of the Blues' Ma Rainey

 

 

"Rainey, who wrote her own songs, was a mentor to singer Bessie Smith and worked with the likes of Louis Armstrong and Thomas Dorsey, who was musical director on some of her recordings. Her full-throated vocals have inspired singers from Dinah Washington to Janis Joplin.

Dawkins says: “She laid the foundation. A lot of legendary people started with Ma Rainey or grew with Ma Rainey. I read somewhere Thomas Dorsey said, ‘After performing and working with Ma Rainey there was nowhere else to go but to the Lord’.

“I think her voice made a statement. It was strong. It was unapologetic. They didn’t have all the bells and whistles and the amplifiers we have in music today. It was just music point blank to your soul. It was how she was feeling. Like the blues is your story, she told her story.”

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'All they want is my voice': the real story of 'Mother of the Blues' Ma Rainey | Blues | The Guardian: