On Sale: Memphis Minnie "Guitar Queen"

Memphis Minnie born Lizzie "Kid" Douglas in Algiers, Louisiana on June 3, 1897, was an American blues guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. She was the only female blues artist considered a match to male contemporaries as both a singer and an instrumentalist and was among the first to record the blues.

She recorded over 200 sides during her forty years career, almost unheard of for any woman in show business at the time and not common in any blues artist. A flamboyant character who wore bracelets made of silver dollars; and would spit tobacco wearing a chiffon ball gown, she was a very popular blues recording artist at the height of her career from the early Depression years through World War II.

One of the first generation of blues artists to take up the electric guitar she combined her Louisiana-country roots with Memphis blues to produce her own unique country-blues sound. In 1933 Minnie and Big Bill Broonzy participated in a Blues Showdown at a club in Chicago, Memphis Minnie preformed "Chauffeur Blues" and "Looking the World Over" and won the prize--a bottle of whiskey and a bottle of gin. Big Bill and Minnie became friends and later preformed together on several occasions.

Enjoy 15% off this week on this Keep On Truckin Apparel exclusive design. Available in both short and long sleeve t-shirts. No coupon code required your discount will be applied at checkout at www.kotapparel.com