Bessie Smith : Muddy Waters

Rotten Tomatoes

Bessie Smith died in Clarksville, Mississippi, in 1937, and it is said that 10,000 adoring fans attended her funeral. Amazing in view that as stated as fact, she was buried in an unmarked grave, and only got a tombstone later, many decades afterward from Janis Joplin, who was influenced so greatly by Bessie. The fact that she was buried with no tombstone after recording 160 songs, sounds so unfair to me. Bessie in a sense lives on in her music ,still inspiring many singers of the blues and artist of other genres as well. Bessie Smith truly was born into the blues and died in the blues. She is truly the Empress of the blues, who lived the blues from start to finish.

Empress of the Blues Vol.2