The Paramount label billed
Gertrude “Ma
” Rainey
as “The Mother of the Blues,
” and rightly so. She was one of the first female singers of the blues, and one of the best of the classic blues singers of the 1920s. Her earthy vocal style made her a link between male-dominated country blues and the urban blues of. contemporary female singers.
MaRainey was born Gertrude Pridgett on , in Columbus, Georgia. Her parents had both...