The “Delta Queen,” the “She-Wolf,” the electric guitar playing, fur coat, rhinestone studded high heal wearing, gunslinging, blues writing Black woman, Jessie Mae Hemphill. I used to be one of those who hadn’t yet been graced by her melodic voice, the tapping of a tambourine strapped to her foot, and her rhythmic electric guitar, but once I was, I was immediately drawn to her. Personally, she reminded me of my family. The southern drawl in her voice brought images of my great grandmother to mind. While Hemphill donned a fierce attitude on stage and the presence of a grandmother while off it, my great grandmother roller skated and clubbed at night and handed candy out to children in church the next Sunday morning (dubbing her Granny Gumdrops). A guitar that Hemphill holds in a picture while sitting on a Cadillac reminds me of my grandfather, a man of many talents, who gifted my mother and I his Epiphone before passing. And of course, Hemphill’s daring fashion style, sent my mind straight to my grandmother; a woman who swears she is 5’5’ but just barely breaches 5’2,’ and wears massive high heels with hot pink jumpsuits, leaving all the other middle school children staring at me in envy and confusion on grandparents' day when she strutted in larger than life saying, “That’s your GRANDMA!” I share all of this to say that the combination of Jessie Mae Hemphill’s sheer awesomeness and her random connections to my family created a spell that was cast on me, and I was immediately, hopelessly, and unequivocally obsessed.
Jessie Mae Hemphill was born Jessie Mae Graham in Panola County Mississippi to parents Vergie "Bertha" Mae Hemphill and James Graham (Department of Commerce - Bureau of the Census, 1940; Evans, 1991). Her birthday is cited as October 18, 1923, by the Jessie Mae Hemphill foundation, however her birthyear has been disputed, with different sources citing it as 1932, 1934, and 1937 (Pendergast & Pendergast, 2007). Hemphill came from one of Mississippi’s most famous musical families, which explains why in an interview with Robert Nicholson (1998), Hemphill stated that she had been full of music since she was born. Her father was a talented blues pianist who Hemphill herself claims was the best piano player in the world (Nicholson, 1998; Pendergast & Pendergast, 2007). Her mother Virgie and aunts, Sidney Lee Hemphill, and Rosa Lee Hill were all multi-instrumentalists, the latter having been recorded by musicologist and folklorist Alan Lomax in 1959 (Russell, 2006). Hemphill believed her family inherited their musical passion from her grandfather Sid Hemphill. He was a well-known blind multi-instrumentalist and leader of a fife-and-drum band. He was also recorded by Alan Lomax in 1942 and again in 1959 (Lusk, 2006). Those recordings are now in the Library of Congress (Munding, 2016). Sid Hemphill’s father, Doc Hemphill, was also a famous fiddle player (Pendergast & Pendergast, 2007).
Hemphill’s musical development started early on in childhood. She began playing the tambourine when she was just two years old, going on to win a contest for it when she was a teenager (Pendergast & Pendergast, 2007). She also began dancing on stage at the age of two, which explains the development of her strong stage presence that she carried into adult hood (Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood Featuring Jessie Mae Hemphill, 1982; Pearson, n.d.). When she was seven or eight years old, she began learning guitar (Pendergast & Pendergast, 2007). She started by playing songs she heard on blues records in her house on an old acoustic guitar with plastic strings. At first, she practiced in secret in an outhouse behind her family’s home because she didn’t want her mother knowing that she was playing the blues (Evans, 1991; Pearson, n.d.). During this time in her childhood Hemphill used to lead her grandfather around to different houses that he needed to visit to either perform music or carpentry, while carrying his instruments or tools (Evans, 1991). It was on one of these many walks that she decided to start picking on his guitar. He heard her and happily urged her to no longer hide her abilities and continue playing in the company of the rest of their family (Pearson, n.d.).
In many interviews Hemphill expressed the impact that her grandfather had on her life. He was one of the first people to discover her guitar playing abilities, he taught her skills outside of musicianship such as carpentry, and most of all she served as his sight when outside of the house, so they spent a lot of time together. At the same time, Jessie Mae Hemphill has also credited the women in her family for her musical development. Hemphill recalled constantly watching her aunt Rosa Lee Hill pick guitar day and night, playing church songs and blues (Evans, 1991). The first song that Hemphill ever learned was Hill’s “Bullyin’ Well” which she learned from her mother Virgie (Pearson, n.d.). This song later appeared on Hemphill’s first full length album “She-Wolf,” published in 1981. Rosa Lee Hill also directly taught Jessie Mae Hemphill how to play “Roll and Tumble Cried all Night Long” (Pearson, n.d., 2005). In one interview, Hemphill even said that the first guitar she ever received was a Nashville from her Aunt Sidney (or Cindy)! That very same guitar is on the cover of her 1981 She-Wolf album (Evans, 1991).
About a year after learning to play guitar, Hemphill also learned to play the bass and snare drum. Her skills as a drummer were reflected in the percussive style she developed on guitar (Lusk, 2006). Jessie Mae Hemphill recounted the story of how she learned during her appearance on an episode of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood with Othar Turner and Ed Young in 1982 (Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood Featuring Jessie Mae Hemphill, 1982). Hemphill began learning to play the drums when she was nine years old. She would turn over a pasteboard box, grab a spoon and a knife, and play with her “sticks” (Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood Featuring Jessie Mae Hemphill, 1982). One day she sat in a chair with a regular drum and began to practice on that. She recalled specifically the way that the sticks would bounce back being different from that of the pasteboard box, which caused her to adjust how she hit the drum to produce the specific sound that she wanted (Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood Featuring Jessie Mae Hemphill, 1982). Hemphill went on to perform the snare and bass drum at family picnics. She was so small that she would have to stand on a Coca Cola box while someone held the drum so that she could play it (Pearson, 2005). She was so good at playing at these events that at times she would make more money than her own grandfather (Nicholson, 1998).
By the time Jessie Mae Hemphill reached adulthood in the 1940s she was a multi-instrumentalist, capable of playing not only the guitar, drums, and tambourine, but also fife, flute, trombone, saxophone, harmonica, piano, quills, and didley bow (Pendergast & Pendergast, 2007). During this time she played in a fife-and-drum band with Napoleon Strickland, which was said to have rivaled the likes of other famous blues musicians like Othar Turner (Lusk, 2006).
In the early 1950s Hemphill moved to Memphis. She had many skills besides her vast abilities as a musician, acquired from her family during childhood, which allowed her to work many different types of jobs in Memphis including as a cashier, a carpenter, and a dry cleaner when she wasn’t busking on Beale Street. In addition to all of this, she worked at a Memphis blues club, which led to her owning her own club for a period of time (Pendergast & Pendergast, 2007; Lusk, 2006). During her time in Memphis, she met other famous blues musicians including Albert King, Robert Nighthawk, Junior Parker, Muddy Waters, and Howlin’ Wolf. Hemphill also met B.B. King during her time in Memphis. During a break at a venue where King was playing, Hemphill and two other women decided to go on stage and play. They received such a positive reaction from the crowd that King and his band thought that the venue owners had hired another band to take over their show because they had taken too long (Lusk, 2006). Hemphill also claimed to have discovered Mississippi Fred McDowell during her time in Memphis (Evans, 1991).
In 1967 music historian George Mitchell interviewed and photographed Jessie Mae Hemphill for his book Blow My Blues Away. Mitchell was the first to record Hemphill, but the field recordings that he created were not released until many years later as part of the George Mitchell collection (Lusk, 2006). While living in Memphis she was briefly married to a man named either L.D or J.D Brooks. Although the marriage was short lived, Hemphill's early recordings with George Mitchell were made under the name Jessie Mae Brooks. When Jessie Mae Hemphill began to record professionally, she reverted back to the Hemphill name to preserve and carry on her family's musical legacy (Pendergast & Pendergast, 2007).
After she returned to Mississippi, she sadly realized that she was the only musical member left in her family and decided that it would be her mission to “let the world hear the Hemphills" (Pearson, n.d.).
It was in the midst of this realization that she met musicologist David Evans who aided in the start of her commercial performing and recording career. He produced an unreleased recording of her in 1971 and 1973 prior to her name change (Lusk, 2006). Later in 1979 Evans recorded her two singles “Jessie’s Boogie” and “Standing in my Doorway Crying” and released them under the Highwater Recording Company label. She was one of the first artists that Evans ever recorded under the label, as it had only just recently been created as a division of the University of Memphis (then known as Memphis State University). “Standing in my Doorway Crying” later became a best seller for the label after its release in 1980. Evans introduced Hemphill to the French label Vogue who produced her first album “She-Wolf” in 1981. However, the album was only released in Europe due to issues with how the label was able to promote it (Pendergast & Pendergast, 2007).
After the release of her first album, she toured Europe, playing shows in West Berlin, Germany, Sweden, and France (Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood Featuring Jessie Mae Hemphill, 1982; Nicholson, 1998). She showed up to every set with her powerful presence, high heeled studded shoes, and sequined dresses, but at the end of every set that she did, Hemphill always made sure to play a spiritual (Pearson, n.d.).
While in France she recorded tracks for the Mississippi Blues Festival album in 1986, which helped her to gain a degree of recognition in the states. Her second album Feelin’ Good was released on the HighWater label in 1990 (Pendergast & Pendergast, 2007).
Many have described Jessie Mae Hemphill’s music as classic folk blues with rhythmic guitar playing, chanting tambourine or bells, and her signature droning beautiful voice. Personally, I find that my experience listening to her music was mostly right on par with how most sources described it, but I also feel her music has a wider range. The first song of hers that I ever listened to was “Standing in My Doorway Crying” from her She-Wolf album. I was immediately drawn to her wonderful voice singing sorrowful lyrics about heartbreak, rising over the rhythmic tambourine and guitar. The style of this song was exactly what I expected based on several articles that I had read.
However, I then listened to “Boogie ‘Side the Road” from the same album and had a completely different experience. Her signature tambourine was present, and it was accompanied by her rhythmic guitar. But this time, for me, it sounded different. The obvious contrast between the two songs was the absence of Jessie Mae Hemphill’s voice soaring over the instrumental background, but this change in particular caused the guitar to take a more prominent role in the song. Her picking patterns were rhythmic and catchy, with the presence of subtle harmonies. For lack of a better way of describing it, the guitar sounded as though it was dancing. I remember playing it aloud for the first time and looking down the hall to catch my mother shamelessly busting a move. It’s a song that makes you want to dance and smile, much like “Jessie’s Boogie.” In short, the style of the She-Wolf’s music ranges from melancholy, droning and rhythmic, to funky, jumping and jiving, with of course the occasional spiritual (like her sets, she ended most of her albums with one).
During her career she won W.C Handy Awards in 1987, 1988 and 1994 for Traditional Female Artist of the Year and was nominated for the same award in 1982, 1983, 1989 and in 2005. In 1991 she won a Handy Award for Acoustic Album of the Year for Feelin’ Good and the reissued version of the album was nominated again in 1998.
Even though over the course of her career Hemphill carried herself with ground shaking confidence on stage, she also grappled with the sexism that came along with being a woman who played the blues. Despite her being a woman blues musician who self-accompanied, she herself didn’t feel like a woman was supposed to be doing the things that she was, especially performing in a male dominated genre on a male dominate instrument.
Hemphill’s stance on women being on stage could perhaps make sense given the time period and how dominated the blues genre was by men, the only issue with this is her familial history. Her grandfather actively encouraged her to perform guitar and she watched her mother and aunts all perform on stage during her childhood family picnics. She also watched her aunt Rosa Lee Hill practice and perform guitar constantly.
Hemphill could have been making a distinction between professional blues musicians who she saw as predominantly men and amateur musicians who played in less formal settings like the family picnics during her childhood which included both men and women. Or it could have been the result of societal pressures and a lack of media representation that led her to believe that women simply did not belong on a stage in either situation. Regardless of her own internal battles, Hemphill performed on stage like she belonged there (because she did) until she couldn’t play anymore.
Unfortunately, Jessie Mae Hemphill’s career mostly ended in 1993 when she suffered a stroke. With her left side completely paralyzed she was no longer able to perform and retired to a trailer back in Mississippi with her dog SweetPea, only occasionally visited by her nurse. Although it is hard to imagine Jessie Mae Hemphill as anything other than the powerful, She-Wolf, her physical state after her stroke is unclear. Some sources cite Hemphill as being a shadow of herself after her stroke, barely being able to walk or do basic tasks and appearing much older than she was (Nicholson, 1998). Other sources, including interviews, cite her as being physically disabled but still clearly capable of doing almost everything for herself, like playing guitar and (using assistive devices) driving her beloved Cadillac!
Olga Wilhemine Munding, a friend of Jessie Mae Hemphill and founder of the Jessie Mae Hemphill foundation, shared a hilarious adventure that she had with the She-Wolf (whom she shared a birthday with!) after her stroke. Munding first discovered Hemphill’s record Feelin’ Good in the 1990s when she was deejaying at a radio station in Colorado. She was immediately intrigued by the Black woman guitarist wearing a cowboy hat and a corset, whose style came off as old school even though the album had been recently released. She tracked down Hemphill and visited her in her trailer, leading to Hemphill becoming a grandmother figure in her life. According to Munding, Hemphill had very strict rules about driving. When Munding crossed train tracks, she had to wait a specific amount of time, or Hemphill would yell at her about how trains could “come out of nowhere” and that she needed to be careful. Hemphill had a red Cadillac that she loved, and she would occasionally have Munding turn it on, let it run, and then cut it off. One day they went out for a drive with Hemphill at the wheel, and a very scared Munding on the passenger side because of Jessie Mae Hemphill's partial paralysis. After driving very slowly for a while, they came to a house, and Hemphill, unable to U-turn, drove through the house’s front yard and away, with the angry occupants running in tow. In response to the recounting of this event Munding commented, “After her stroke, she was still She-Wolf. She was still passionate, fierce, and determined to make it her way, whichever way it was. And she did” (Munding, 2016).
Whatever Hemphill’s state was after her stroke, it is clear she had a fantastic career. After she retired from performing live, she released several albums, including her gospel oriented album Dare you Do it Again released in 2004 which features her wonderful voice and her tambourine playing (Lusk, 2006). Jessie Mae Hemphill sadly passed away on July 22, 2006 at the Regional Medical Center in Memphis, Tennessee from complications related to an ulcer. Even though her performing and recording career was relatively short, Jessie Mae Hemphill’s legacy lives on. It lives on through her music and through all of her “Sister Fans” (Brooks, 2021) that idolize and follow her music and career even after her death (Brooks, 2021). It lives on and is honored through art. There is a wonderful exhibit in the 214 by CACHE gallery space in Springdale Arizona that immortalizes the face of Jessie Mae Hemphill as well as many other blues icons called “A Cast of Blues.” There are a total of 15 casts, created by artist Sharon McConnel-Dickerson, that are each accompanied by pictures of the artist that the casts honors taken by Ken Murphy, and placards with information about the artist’s life and career (Wallace, 2022). Finally, her legacy lives on through people like us, those who choose to read, write, or otherwise spread the word of her accomplishments. In 2005 Hemphill was interviewed by Guitar Player and asked about her family, her career, her personal feelings surrounding her career, and what remained of her guitar playing after her stroke (Foley, 2021). When asked if she missed her guitar, she provided the following response, which I feel perfectly sums up how Hemphill felt about her career, and how we should feel about it to.
Image Source: Jessie Mae Hemphill Foundation Facebook Page
Brooks, D. (2021). Liner notes for the revolution: The intellectual life of black feminist sound. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Cooper, B. L. (2010). Contemporary Blueswomen: A Bibliography of Female Blues Singers, Composers, and Instrumentalists, 1955-2005. Popular Music and Society, 33(3), 395–414. https://doi.org/10.1080/03007760802340956
Department of Commerce - Bureau of the Census. (1940). Sixteenth Census of the United States: 1940 Population Schedule (Jessie Mary Graham). United States Census Bureau. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/imageviewer/collections/2442/images/M-T0627-02061-00067?pId=121652922
Evans, D. (1991). Ain’t got tears to cry with: Jessie Mae Hemphill. Living Blues, 100, 16–21.
Foley, S. (2021, October 11). “Girl, How Crazy You Was and How Dangerous It Was”: Blues Icon Jessie Mae Hemphill Looks Back on Her Remarkable Life in Music. Guitar Player. https://www.guitarplayer.com/players/girl-how-crazy-you-was-and-how-dangerous-it-was-blues-icon-jessie-mae-hemphill-looks-back-on-her-remarkable-life-in-music
Lusk, J. (2006, August 11). Obituaries: Jessie Mae Hemphill; Feisty Mississippi blues musician. The Independent (London), 43.
Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood featuring Jessie Mae Hemphill. (1982). [Video recording]. https://youtu.be/gVzzTYzj2AQ
Munding, O. W. (2016, January 5). Driving Miss Jessie. Mississippi Folk Life (Internet Archive Wayback Machine). https://web.archive.org/web/20180307050710/http://www.mississippifolklife.org/articles/driving-miss-jessie
Nicholson, R. (1998). Mississippi: The blues today! Da Capo Press.
Pearson, B. L. (n.d.). Jessie Mae Hemphill. Contemporary Acoustic Roots & Country Blues. Retrieved June 19, 2022, from https://www.thecountryblues.com/dr-barry-lee-pearson/jessie-mae-hemphill/
Pearson, B. L. (2005). Jook Right On: Blues Stories and Blues Storytellers (1st edition). Univ Tennessee Press.
Pendergast, S., & Pendergast, T. (2007). Jessie Mae Hemphill (1923-2006): Blues musician, singer, songwriter, guitarist, percussionist. In Contemporary Black Biography: Profiles from the International Black Community (Vol. 59, pp. 91–94). Cengage Gale. https://worldcat.org/en/title/162135721
Russell, T. (2006, August 8). Obituary: Jessie Mae Hemphill: Electric guitar son. The Guardian - Final Edition, 31–31.
Wallace, A. (2022, May 8). The faces of the blues: Icons live on in resin casts, photos, music. Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette. https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2022/may/08/the-faces-of-the-blues-icons-live-on-in-resin/
Evans, D. (1994). Hemphill, Jessie Mae (1933-). In Black women in America: An historical encyclopedia: Vol. 1 (A-L) (pp. 555–556). Carlson Pub.; Internet Archive. Borrow from the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/blackwomeninamer0001unse_p1s8
Evans, D. (2012). Jessie Mae Hemphill (1923-2006). In D. Harris, Heads, Hands, & Feet: A Book of One Man Bands (pp. 203–206). Find via Worldcat: https://www.worldcat.org/title/head-hands-feet-a-book-of-one-man-bands/oclc/942280159&referer=brief_results
Ford, R. (2007). A blues bibliography (2nd ed). Routledge. Find via Worldcat: https://worldcat.org/en/title/71842605
Hemphill, Jessie Mae. (2006). In E. M. Komara (Ed.), Encyclopedia of the blues: Vol. 1 (A-J Index) (pp. 418–419). Routledge. Borrow from the Internet Archive: https://ia801304.us.archive.org/6/items/EncyclopediaOfTheBlues/Encyclopedia_of_the_Blues.pdf
Jessie Mae Hemphill. (2022). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jessie_Mae_Hemphill&oldid=1083815296
Johnson, G. (2017, July 11). Jesse Mae Hemphill: (1923–2006) Blues Musician. Mississippi Encyclopedia. https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/jessie-mae-hemphill/
Larkin, C. (1998). Hemphill, Jessie Mae. In Encyclopedia of Popular Music (3rd ed., p. 2483). Macmillan; Internet Archive. Borrow from the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofpop300lark
Pendergast, S., & Pendergast, T. (2007). Jessie Mae Hemphill (1923-2006): Blues musician, singer, songwriter, guitarist, percussionist. In Contemporary Black Biography: Profiles from the International Black Community (Vol. 59, pp. 91–94). Cengage Gale. Find via Worldcat: https://worldcat.org/en/title/162135721
Santelli, R. (2001). Hemphill, Jesse Mae (born October 6, 1934, Senatobia, Miss.). In The big book of blues: A biographical encyclopedia (p. 202). New York: Penguin Books; Internet Archive. Borrow from the Internet Archive: http://archive.org/details/bigbookofbluesbi00sant
Thieme, D. L. (1996). Jessie Mae Hemphill 1932-): Blues singer, musician. In J. C. Smith (Ed.), Notable Black American women: Book II (pp. 283–284). Gale Research. Borrow from the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/notableblackamer00jess/page/283/mode/1up?q=hemphill
Bokelman, M., Evans, D., & Wade, S. (2022). Going up the country: Adventures in blues fieldwork in the 1960s. University Press of Mississippi. Find via Worldcat: https://www.worldcat.org/title/going-up-the-country-adventures-in-blues-fieldwork-in-the-1960s/oclc/1311491795&referer=brief_results
Brooks, D. (2021). Liner notes for the revolution: The intellectual life of black feminist sound (Covers Jessie Mae Hemphill pp. 404-406, 407). The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Find via Worldcat: https://www.worldcat.org/title/liner-notes-for-the-revolution-the-intellectual-life-of-black-feminist-sound/oclc/1192305743&referer=brief_results
Evans, D. (1982). Big road blues: Tradition and creativity in folk blues. University of California Press (Covers Sid Hemphill pp. 47-48). Borrow from the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/bigroadbluestrad0000evan
Erlewine, M., Bogdanov, V., Woodstra, C., Koda, C., & Erlewine, T. (1999). All music guide to the blues. In All music guide to the blues. (2nd ed.). Miller Freeman Books.
Gioia, T. (2008). Delta blues: The life and times of the Mississippi masters who revolutionized American music (1st ed.) (Covers Sid Hemphill pp. 387-388, 397). WWNorton. Borrow from the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/deltablueslifeti00gioi
Handy, D. A. (1981). Black women in American bands and orchestras (Covers Jessie Mae Hemphill pp. 97-98). Metuchen; London: Scarecrow. Borrow from the Internet Archive: http://archive.org/details/blackwomeninamer00hand
Hayes, E. M., & Williams, L. F. (2007). Black women and music: More than the blues. University of Illinois Press. Find via Worldcat: https://www.worldcat.org/title/black-women-and-music-more-than-the-blues/oclc/1050048208&referer=brief_results
Lomax, A. (1993). The land where the blues began (Covers Jessie Mae Hemphill pp. 337-338, 340-341). New York, N.Y: Pantheon Books. Borrow from the Internet Archive: http://archive.org/details/landwherebluesbe00lomax
Mitchell, G. (1971). Blow my blues away. Louisiana State University Press (Includes full chapters on Rosa Lee Hill pp. 59-75 & Jessie Mae Hemphill pp. 76-99). Find via Worldcat: https://www.worldcat.org/title/blow-my-blues-away/oclc/256362141&referer=brief_results
Mitchell, G. (2013). Mississippi Hill Country Blues 1967. University Press of Mississippi (Includes fill chapters on Rosa Lee Hill pp. 60-73 & Jessie Mae Hemphill pp. 74-89). Find via Worldcat: https://www.worldcat.org/title/mississippi-hill-country-blues-1967/oclc/821271492&referer=brief_results
Nicholson, R. (1998). Mississippi: The blues today! Da Capo Press (Includes a full chapter on Jessie Mae Hemphill pp. 102-115). Borrow from the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/mississippiblues00nich
Oliver, P. (1998). The story of the blues (Briefly covers Sid Hemphill p. 58). Northeastern University Press. Borrow from the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/storyofblues00oliv
Palmer, R. (1981). Deep blues (Covers Sid Hemphill pp. 38-39, 42). Viking Press. Borrow from the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/deepblues00palm
Pearson, B. L. (2005). Jook right on: Blues stories and blues storytellers (1st edition). Univ Tennessee Press (Covers Jessie Mae Hemphill pp. 73, 159, 197, & 216). Find via Worldcat: https://www.worldcat.org/title/jook-right-on-blues-stories-and-blues-storytellers/oclc/57452517&referer=brief_results
Springer, R. (2006). Nobody knows where the blues come from: Lyrics and history (1st ed.). University Press of Mississippi. https://ctw-tc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CTW_TC/1nfv71n/alma997686423703767
Work, J. W. (2005). Lost Delta found: Rediscovering the Fisk University-Library of Congress Coahoma County study, 1941-1942 (Covers Sid Hemphill pp. 9, 24, 92, & 94). Vanderbilt University Press. Borrow from the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/lostdeltafoundre0000work
Young, A. (1997). Woke me up this morning: Black gospel singers and the gospel life (Covers Jessie Mae Hemphill pp. 288, 298, & 307). University Press of Mississippi. Borrow from the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/wokemeupthismorn0000youn
Keith, T. (2020). North Mississippi Hill Country Blues: How the last genre of the blues came to be, through family tradition and documentation, in a place called the “Hill Country” [University of Mississippi]. https://search.proquest.com/openview/5190ff6e4475808ed9c5945a45dc62e4/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=51922&diss=y
Matabane, M. I. (2014). Axe to grind: A cultural history of Black women musicians on the acoustic and electric guitar in the United States [Dissertation]. https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/ws859f962?locale=es
Sahagian, J. (2018). The same old blues crap: Selling the blues at Fat Possum Records [The University of Mississippi]. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/886/
Vermilyea, C. P. (2011). The Otha Turner family picnic: Occupying musical and social space in-between Saturday night and Sunday morning [University of North Texas]. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc68058/
The Associated Press. (2006, July 25). Jessie Mae Hemphill, 71, blues musician, dies. The New York Times.
Bock, S. M. (2018, February). Revisiting Mississippi Hill Country blues. Living Blues, 49, #1(253), 10–15. https://livingblues.com/product/living/
Evans, D. (1985). Jessie Mae Hemphill. Living Blues, 64, 14. https://livingblues.com/product/lb-64-marchapril-185/
Evans, D. (1991). Ain’t got tears to cry with: Jessie Mae Hemphill. Living Blues, 100, 16–21. https://livingblues.com/product/lb-100-novdec-1991/
Groom, B. (2008). Jessie Mae Hemphill and the Hemphill Dynasty. Blues & Rythm: The Gospel Truth, 226, 4–7. http://www.bluesandrhythm.co.uk/back-issues/
Han, S. (2006). Deaths: Jessie Mae Hemphill. Billboard, 118(31), 72.
Hollywood Reporter. (2006, July 26). Jessie Mae Hemphill. The Hollywood Reporter, 395(20).
Jessie Mae Hemphill. (2006, August 4). Times, The (United Kingdom).
Kunian, D. (2006a, September). Jessie Mae Hemphill. Offbeat, 22–22.
Kunian, D. (2006b, September). Obituaries: Jessie Mae Hemphill 1934-2006. Offbeat, 19(9), 22.
Lehmann, P. (1980, 1982). Rebirth of the Blues: Mississippi blues musicians revive an old art form through festivals and recordings. The Cultural Post, 6–7, 19–21.
Lusk, J. (2006, August 11). Obituaries: Jessie Mae Hemphill; Feisty Mississippi blues musician. The Independent (London), 43.
McCree, C. (2004). Jessie Mae Hemphill: High priestess of Hill Country. Offbeat, 17(9), 36–38.
Munding, O. W. (2016). Driving Miss Jessie. Mississippi Folk Life (Internet Archive Wayback Machine). https://web.archive.org/web/20180307050710/http://www.mississippifolklife.org/articles/driving-miss-jessie
O’Neal, J. (2018, February). Sid Hemphill: Hill country patriarch. Living Blues, 49, #1(253), 38–41. https://livingblues.com/product/living/
Russell, T. (2006, August 8). Obituary: Jessie Mae Hemphill: Electric guitar son. The Guardian - Final Edition, 31.
Scenes from the North Mississippi Hill Country. (2018, February). Living Blues, 49, #1(253), 22–25. https://livingblues.com/product/living/
Wallace, A. (2022, May 8). The faces of the blues: Icons live on in resin casts, photos, music. Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette. https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2022/may/08/the-faces-of-the-blues-icons-live-on-in-resin/
What’s happening? Folk music news & information. (2007, September). Sing Out!, 51(3), 8–12.
Handy, D. A. (1991). Review of Feelin’ Good; Hezekiah and The House Rockers. American Music, 9(3), 331–334. https://doi.org/10.2307/3051441
Jones, S. (n.d.). Various artists – 50 years of Como MS blues (Album Review). Retrieved June 19, 2022, from https://www.bluesblastmagazine.com/various-artists-50-years-of-como-ms-blues-album-review/
Meadows, E. S. (1995). Review of Feelin’ Good. Jessie Mae Hemphill; Hezekiah and the House Rockers, David Evans. Ethnomusicology, 39(1), 153–154. https://doi.org/10.2307/852213
Foley, S. (2021, October 11). “Girl, How Crazy You Was and How Dangerous It Was”: Blues Icon Jessie Mae Hemphill Looks Back on Her Remarkable Life in Music. Guitar Player. https://www.guitarplayer.com/players/girl-how-crazy-you-was-and-how-dangerous-it-was-blues-icon-jessie-mae-hemphill-looks-back-on-her-remarkable-life-in-music
High Water Records. (n.d.). Jessie Mae Hemphill. High Water Records. Retrieved June 19, 2022, from https://www.highwaterrecords.com/jessie-mae-hemphill
Jessie Mae Hemphill—Senatobia. (n.d.). The Mississippi Blues Trail. Retrieved June 19, 2022, from https://msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/jessie-mae-hemphill
Jessie Mae Hemphill. (n.d.). WBSS Media. Retrieved June 19, 2022, from https://wbssmedia.com/artists/detail/2600
Johnson, G. (2017, July 11). Jesse Mae Hemphill (1923–2006) Blues Musician. Mississippi Encyclopedia. https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/jessie-mae-hemphill/
McCree, C. (2020, August 26). Jessie Mae Hemphill: Hangin’ with the “The She-Wolf of Como.” PleaseKillMe. https://pleasekillme.com/jessie-mae-hemphill/
Mississippi Blues Project. (2012, August 14). Jessie Mae Hemphill. Mississippi Blues Project. http://mississippibluesproject.org/?s=jessie+mae+hemphill
Pearson, B. L. (n.d.). Jessie Mae Hemphill. Contemporary Acoustic Roots & Country Blues. Retrieved June 19, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20200427164829/https://www.thecountryblues.com/dr-barry-lee-pearson/jessie-mae-hemphill/
She Shreds Staff. (n.d.). 130 Historic Black Women Guitarists and Bassists You Need To Know. She Shreds. Retrieved June 19, 2022, from https://sheshreds.com/100-black-women-guitarists-and-bassists/
Munding, O. W. (n.d.). Jessie Mae Hemphill Foundation. Jessie Mae Hemphill Foundation. Retrieved June 19, 2022, from http://www.jmhemphill.org/?fbclid=IwAR2xNAFBLIR_VwHRWNeDvMRug_FWfRi90RGdPnXyFUvu8vdQhDnYtFAALcE
Jessie Mae Hemphill Foundation Facebook Page. (n.d.). [Social Media]. Facebook. Retrieved June 13, 2022, from https://www.facebook.com/JMHFoundation/
Lucius Smith & Jessie Mae Hemphill on drums and Sid Hemphill (1978). (1978). Lomax Digital Archive. https://archive.culturalequity.org/field-work/newport-folk-festival-1966/mississippi-delta-and-hill-country-1978/lucius-smith-jessie
Strickland, N., Hemphill, J., Evans, D., & Jones, C. (1979a, June 9). 1979-55, 05. Boogie Baby. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/evansd_strickland/251
Strickland, N., Hemphill, J., Evans, D., & Jones, C. (1979b, June 9). 1979-55, 06. Shake ’Em On Down. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/evansd_strickland/252
Strickland, N., Hemphill, J., Evans, D., & Jones, C. (1979c, June 9). 1979-55, 07. Catfish Blues. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/evansd_strickland/253
Burnette, R., & Hemphill, J. (1980a, May 13). 1980-49, 11. Black Cat Bone. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/evansd_burnette_r/102
Burnette, R., & Hemphill, J. (1980b, August 16). 1980-26, 02. Coal Black Mattie (with Jessie Mae Hemphill). https://egrove.olemiss.edu/evansd_burnette_r/108
Strickland, N., & Hemphill, J. (1980, February 19). 1980-2, 02. Get Right Church. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/evansd_strickland/285
Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood featuring Jessie Mae Hemphill. (1982). https://youtu.be/gVzzTYzj2AQ
Jessie Mae Hemphill Live 1984 avi. (1984). [Streaming]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHtVqq09Ysk
Jessie Mae Hemphill—The George Mitchell Collection Vol. 45. (2008). Retrieved June 19, 2022, from https://www.discogs.com/release/8122229-Jessie-Mae-Hemphill-The-George-Mitchell-Collection-Vol-45
Ruthie Foster. (2017, July 28). Ruthie Foster Live at The Center for Arts in Natick on 2017-07-28. http://archive.org/details/rf2017-07-28.flac16 [Includes a track where Ruthie Foster recalls her time with Jessie Mae Hemphill]
Como Bluesdust. (n.d.). Jessie Mae Hemphill part 3—Standing in the doorway crying. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joAjpNCoW2A
Jessie Mae Hemphill levittshellarchive video #33 Memphis Music Memories. (n.d.). [Streaming]. Retrieved June 19, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-UIyjPoM8A&t=44s
Georgia Folklore Society. (1985). National Downhome Blues Festival, Atlanta, Georgia, 1985. [object Object]. Retrieved June 21, 2022, from http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/id:ugabma_gfc_gfc-1946
Como Bluesdust. (n.d.). Jesse Mae Hemphill (Feeling Good). Retrieved June 20, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSO0k32JR5Q
Korte, K. de. (n.d.). Rural Blues [Documentary, Music]. Moving Image. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyFY5v308lI&ab_channel=BluesCompartido
The Living Blues. (2003). [Documentary]. Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), Turner Studios Original Productions. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0424241/
Oriol, M. (Director). (2000). Big Lucky Carter—Self preservation blues. K Production. https://vimeo.com/488024321
M.A.O. (2002). Jessie Mae Hemphill: Me and my guitar [YouTube]. K Production. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaevRGENk3g
Mugge, R. (1991). Deep Blues: A musical pilgrimage to the crossroads [DVD]. Oil Factory/Radio Active Films Production in association with Channel 4. https://www.robertmugge.com/deepblues/index.html
Tyler B. Austin, & Wilhelmine, O. (2004). Jessie Mae Hemphill & Friends: Dare you to do it again. Otay Media. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD2PNxcvlhg
Jessie Mae Hemphill Historical Marker. (n.d.). The Historical Marker Database. Retrieved June 19, 2022, from https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=102871
Fellin’ good-Jessie Mae Hemphill, Historical Blues Album, 1991- 12th Annual Blues Awards, Winner. (n.d.). Blues Foundation. Retrieved June 29, 2024, from https://blues.org/awards/
Jessie Mae Hemphill, Blues Music Awards, Traditional Blues Female Artist, 1982- 3rd National Blues Music Awards, Nominee. (n.d.). Blues Foundation. Retrieved June 29, 2024, from https://blues.org/awards/
Jessie Mae Hemphill, Blues Music Awards, Traditional Blues Female Artist, 1983- 4th Annual Blues Awards, Nominee. (n.d.). Blues Foundation. Retrieved June 29, 2024, from https://blues.org/awards/
Jessie Mae Hemphill, Blues Music Awards, Traditional Blues Female Artist, 1987- 8th Annual Blues Awards, Winner. (n.d.). Blues Foundation. Retrieved June 29, 2024, from https://blues.org/awards/
Jessie Mae Hemphill, Blues Music Awards, Traditional Blues Female Artist, 1988- 9th Annual Blues Music Awards, Winner. (n.d.). Blues Foundation. Retrieved June 29, 2024, from https://blues.org/awards/
Jessie Mae Hemphill, Blues Music Awards, Traditional Blues Female Artist, 1989- 10th Annual Blues Awards, Nominee. (n.d.). Blues Foundation. Retrieved June 29, 2024, from https://blues.org/awards/
Jessie Mae Hemphill, Blues Music Awards, Traditional Blues Female Artist, 1994—15th Annual Blues Awards, Winner. (n.d.). Blues Foundation. Retrieved June 29, 2024, from https://blues.org/awards/
Jessie Mae Hemphill, Blues Music Awards, Traditional Blues Female Artist, 2005—26th W.C. Handy Blues Awards, Nominee. (n.d.). Blues Foundation. Retrieved June 29, 2024, from https://blues.org/awards/
Jessie Mae Hemphill: Fellin’ good (High Water), Reissue Album, 1998- 19th W.C. Handy Blues Awards, Nominee. (n.d.). Blues Foundation. Retrieved June 29, 2024, from https://blues.org/awards/
"The Blues Archive houses a large number of blues-related photographs. Taken by a variety of photographers, these images help document the blues from the beginnings of its popularity in the 1920s through today. The photographs highlight performers, festivals, and locations important to the blues."
Photographs of Jessie Mae Hemphill can be found in the Renato Tonelli Collection (MUM00486) and the Stefano Marise Collection (MUM01727).
"The Blues Archive houses over 2,000 blues posters donated by B. B. King, Jim O'Neal, the Rosebud Agency, and many others. These posters document festivals, album promotions, and more." Note: note all materials in the collection have been digitized.
Photographs of Jessie Mae Hemphill can be found in Series 4: Living Blues Posters and Series 6: Betty v. Miller Collection.
Finding aid: http://purl.oclc.org/umarchives/MUM01783/
David Evans is a musicologist specializing in blues, folk, and gospel music. He began making field recordings of Southern blues artists in the mid-1960s. Recordings include Jessie Mae Hemphill, Napoleon Strickland, R. L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, and other Mississippi Hill Country Blues artists. "The tapes were digitized through a Mississippi Hills Heritage Area Alliance Preservation Grant, under the direction of Hill Country Records' Justin Showah."
Recordings of interviews and performances featuring Jessie Mae Hemphill can be found in David Evan's interviews with Napoleon Strickland (1971-1980) and Ranie Burnette (between 1969 and 1980) .
"The Lomax Digital Archive provides free access to audio/visual collections compiled across seven decades by folklorist Alan Lomax (1915–2002) and his father John A. Lomax (1867–1948)." A search the digital archive returned results for Jessie Mae Hemphill; Sid Hemphill; Rosa Lee Hill (and Rose Hemphill); Hill Country; Como, Senatobia, Tate counties; Panola, Mississippi; and fife and drum.
Also see the Alan Lomax Physical Archive, The Lomax Collection at the Library of Congress, and Tate and Panola Counties, Mississippi repatriation collection.
"Sheldon Harris was a noted editor, educator, and collector of blues and jazz. His book Blues Who's Who: A Biographical Dictionary of Blues Singers, (Arlington House, 1979), featuring biographies of 571 different singers is considered a prime reference source in the field. His collection of sheet music included hundreds of minstrel songs, popular in their day, but full of both racist and demeaning language."
This collection includes recordings, sheet music, photographs, and research materials. Research materials on Jessie Mae Hemphill can be found in Series IV. Research Files (Research Files. H).
Finding Aid: https://libraries.olemiss.edu/specialcollectionspages/finding-aids/mum00682/
"The Smithsonian Online Virtual Archives (SOVA) provides integrated access to descriptions and detailed inventories of thousands of primary resource collections maintained by archival units across the Smithsonian."
Records related to Jessie Mae Hemphill can be found in the Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records for the 1985, 1986, and 1991 Festivals of American Folk Life.
"The Southern Folklife Collection is an archival resource dedicated to collecting, preserving and disseminating vernacular music, art, and culture related to the American South."
Materials related to Jessie Mae Hemphill can be found in the following collections:
Cheryl Thurber Photographic and Related Material Collection, circa 1969-2010
Southern Folk Cultural Revival Project Collection, 1965-1989
Mary Katherine Aldin Artist Files, circa 1990-2010
Bob Carlin Collection, 1824-2003
High Water Recording Company. Format: 7" / 45rpm. Released 1980. View Liner Notes
Vogue (513501). Format: LP. Released 1981. View liner notes
High Water/Hightone Music Group (6508). Format: CD. Reissued 1998 (pictured). View liner notes
High Water Recording Company (1012). Format: LP Album. Released 1990. View Liner Notes
HMG/Hightone Music Group/High Water Recording Company (6502). Format: CD (Remastered). Reissued 1997. View Liner Notes
Black & Blue (BB 457.2). Format: CD (Remastered). Reissued 2003. View Liner Notes
Inside Sounds (ISC-0519). Format: CD. Released 2003.
Hightone Records (HCD8156). Format: CD (Compilation). Released 2003. View Liner Notes
219 Records (TNR1003). Format: CD x 2 (Enhanced). Released 2004.
Ruf records (RUF 1110)(RCD 10322). Format: CD, Compilation. Released Oct. 25, 2005. View Liner Notes
Fat Possum Records (blm 045). Format: Vinyl, 7", 331/3 rpm. Released 2008.
Big Legal Mess (BLM0570). Format: Vinyl, LP. Released 2019.
Big Legal Mess (CDBLM0571). Format: CD (Digipack). Released 2019.