Women’s History Month: Victoria Spivey!

Another musician/composer powerhouse, Spivey sang, composed, played the piano and ukulele and was a key player in the 1960s blues revival as well as during the blues craze of the 1920s. She managed her own record label (Spivey Records) AND performed in the ‘Hellzapoppin’ Revue’ stage show.

Here she is singing my favourite of her compositions, ‘Moanin’ Blues’ in 1929 with a pretty seriously hardcore band: Henry ‘Red’ Allen, JC Higginbotham, Teddy Hill, Luis Russell:

Victoria Spivey – Moaning the Blues

Even more excitingly, here she is in the 60s with Lonnie Johnson at the American Folk Blues Festival singing The Original Black Snake Blues:

Victoria Spivey – Black Snake Blues Volume Two