Pat Blythe – The Women of Blues Revisited, Part I….

I am swamped with another project that is sucking up all my time during the waking hours. I have less than two weeks to complete it and it’s seems to be growing arms and legs I wasn’t expecting. So…..just to rehash a bit of blues history, specifically the ladies, I thought I’d have my editor post this again as many of you have probably not seen it. I wrote three series, Women of Rock, Women of Blues and Women in Song. The Women of Blues was actually inspired by a contemporary whom I saw for the first time a couple of years ago. She had dedicated her latest album to a female blues artist I had never heard of. Read all about her and the women who contributed so, so much to the genre we call the blues. The famous and not so famous. They were tough, talented, single-minded, sexually liberated, passionate and most of them had more balls than the men. Read on, you might even learn something.

Pat Blythe – Squirrels, Applesauce and Swing

I have recently rediscovered (for the umpteenth time) an entire box of music, lyrics, short stories and pics stretching from the late 1930s to 1949. The collection once belonged to my late mother-in-law, Penny Blythe. Since she was born in 1924, by my calculation, she started collecting Hit Parader, Sing, Hit Radio Songs, Big Song Magazine, Song Hit Folio, etc. when she was a young teenager. They contain hundred of song lyrics and the list of performers is endless. Some names I am familiar with but many I’ve never heard of.

JAIMIE VERNON – MUSICAL VALUE VILLAGE

I’ve been slowly re-imbedding myself into the Dante’s Inferno that is the current music industry with a focus on promoting good, new music [see some of my previous blogs for my recommendations] cause, let’s face it, talking about the mistakes the labels made over the last decade is like discussing that guy at Decca Records that passed on The Beatles [his name was Dick Rowe and he made up for the faux pas by later signing the Rolling Stones].

Pat Blythe: The Women of Blues

Prologue….

Anyone heard of Memphis Minnie? How about Ida Cox, Victoria Spivey, Lucille Hegamin, Julia Lee or Maxine Sullivan? Me neither. How about Bessie Smith, Etta James, Sarah Vaughan, Aretha Franklin, Big Momma Thornton, Dinah Washington or even Janis Joplin. The latter are a smattering of the ladies most frequently thought of or mentioned when we think of great female blues singers….the former, not so much.

Pat Blythe: Toronto Scrapbook – Chapter Two

Well…. This was supposed to be Part Five of The Women of Rock. However, I’m going to take a break and fill you in on some of the sights and sounds of this dynamic city I call home….Toronto…. Hogtown… Muddy York…. The Big Smoke…. Tdot…. where I’ve been going, who I’ve been seeing, what I’ve been drinking (G&T w/lemon if you must know. Bombay Sapphire is the chosen one.) AND update you about an exciting event that’s coming to Toronto. Yep….it’s another Toronto Scrapbook!