The Unheard Tale of Ida Cox and a Harmonica's Secret
Mar 02, 2024
Harriet
Sipping on a glass of wine, I, Harriet West-Moore, toast to the resilience and elegance of Ida Cox, an unsung hero whose story weaves through the heart of blues history. With a voice that could stand alongside giants like Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, Cox's journey from Georgia to the prestigious stages like Carnegie Hall embodies the soulful struggle and triumph of the blues. Our session unravels her humble beginnings, the vibrancy of her performances, and the grace with which she overcame industry challenges. We pay homage to her legacy, which resonates with the sound of perseverance and the class she brought to every stage she graced.
Next, the notes of a harmonica lead us into the intriguing tales of two blues legends who shared one name: Sonny Boy Williamson. The mystery of their intertwined legacies is one I have a personal stake in, thanks to a family story involving my father and one of the Sonny Boys. This chapter isn't just a history lesson; it's a personal narrative intertwined with the rich, soul-stirring threads of blues music. So refill your glass and join me for another round of Moore Wine and Music podcast, where stories of past melodies bring today's moments to life.
Sipping on a glass of wine, I, Harriet West-Moore, toast to the resilience and elegance of Ida Cox, an unsung hero whose story weaves through the heart of blues history. With a voice that could stand alongside giants like Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, Cox's journey from Georgia to the prestigious stages like Carnegie Hall embodies the soulful struggle and triumph of the blues. Our session unravels her humble beginnings, the vibrancy of her performances, and the grace with which she overcame industry challenges. We pay homage to her legacy, which resonates with the sound of perseverance and the class she brought to every stage she graced.
Next, the notes of a harmonica lead us into the intriguing tales of two blues legends who shared one name: Sonny Boy Williamson. The mystery of their intertwined legacies is one I have a personal stake in, thanks to a family story involving my father and one of the Sonny Boys. This chapter isn't just a history lesson; it's a personal narrative intertwined with the rich, soul-stirring threads of blues music. So refill your glass and join me for another round of Moore Wine and Music podcast, where stories of past melodies bring today's moments to life.
Good evening everybody. This is Harriet Westmore with the More Wine and Music podcast, the podcast where I discuss music over a glass of wine. I want to welcome you guys on a Friday night, april. This is the last day of the month of April. I hope everybody is enjoying their evening. I wanted to try out a new platform and I've been playing around with it for the last hour and I just got frustrated. So I still forget it. So I'm going back to what I know right now until I get the other platform together. So I want to remind everybody to hit that like and share button to everybody about the podcast of More Wine and Music podcast. It is a great podcast where we discuss the history of American music. In this season I am discussing the genre of the blues, okay. Also, I'm going to be creating t-shirts. If anybody's interested in getting a t-shirt For the More Wine and Music podcast, I will be having that created and also available to you on my platform on the More Shopping, more Online Mall website, which is I'll put that up here on the screen here, so it's the actual moreshoppingco. That's where I'll be having my new More Wine and Music podcast t-shirt. Anybody who has any comments or want to join in, please post your comments on the screen and hopefully you know we'll have a chat while I'm discussing the history of the blues. All right, before I get into today's episode, I'm going to share what I'm drinking tonight. Tonight I'm drinking what is called the Cape Route. It's a red wine. It's sweet not too sweet, but semi-sweet. So that's what I'm drinking tonight. That'll be the. It's called Cape Route. So I got that from winenckcom. So if anybody wants or interested in checking them out, it's wwwwinenckcom.
Speaker 2:
All right, without further ado, let's start in with today's episode, episode number seven of the blues genre, history of the early blues, which is going to be about Ida Cox. Ida Cox was known as the uncrowned queen of the blues. She was probably one of the most underrated female blues artists in the blues genre at her around her time Because her style and her singing was considered to be like a class classic. It wasn't that down home, rough and gruff type sound, it was more of a classy style but she did. But she was in competition with artists such as Ma Rainey, who I, if you go back and I think in episode number five I had had a show. My episode was about Ma Rainey. So she was in pretty much in competition. She was up there with Ma Rainey, bessie Smith, mamie Smith among others. But you know, let's take a look at who she was prior to her fame.
Speaker 2:
Ida Cox was born Ida Prather on February 25th. He was either 1888, 1884 or 1896, depending on what source you want to use. Once again is go back to the inconsistencies of these senses and how these senses takers back in the day did not keep accurate records, particularly for black folks. They didn't, you know they didn't keep much accurate records. So I mean it depends on what source you take the information from. So she was born on either three of those years, but she was born on February 25th and she was born in Takoa, georgia. She was born to the parents of La Max and Susie Knight Prather.
Speaker 2:
She spent most of her childhood in Cedartown, georgia, which is part of Polk County, as most blacks of that time. The economic was very hard and there was little opportunities for growth and advancement. So the only source of income for most of black in the South during that time was a sharecropper. So the family lived and worked on the Riverside plantation which was the residence of the white landowners who were the Prather family, which was their namesake. So one might deduce that perhaps Ida's family may have ancestry, may have been enslaved on that plantation and which is why their last names are Prather.
Speaker 2:
Okay, as a child and a sing in the choir and she belonged to the African Methodist Church in that area. It was there that she developed her love of music and her voice, and which is usually common for African-American. You get your music and you get your love of singing when you start off in the church. Ida was no different from that. By the time she was 14 years old she left home and began singing and traveling with menstrual shows. Once again, these menstrual shows became very popular in a lot of early black blues artists or singers period. That's how they became famous. They start off being a part of these menstrual shows she joined. One of the particular menstrual shows that Ida was a part of was the white and Clark's black and tan menstrual shows she played.
Speaker 2:
This character was called Topsy. This character, topsy, was the stereotypical girl of they very stereotype blacks in the early 20th century. She put on blackface and she was this young, sassy, sharp witted tongue girl who was skipping around. That was their stereotype of black young girls at that time and she played that role. She played that role. She also traveled with the rabbit foot menstrual shows. If you recall, if you are, back in Episode 5, when I was talking about Ma Rainey, ma Rainey traveled with that same type of show, the rabbit foot menstrual show, or they called it the foot. Ida also briefly traveled with that same company. That's basically how she became to know Ma Rainey. Ma Rainey was considered Ida Cox's idol. Her as well as Ma Rainey's I'm sorry, bessie Smith were Ida Cox's idol. They both ran around in the same circles.
Speaker 2:
Ida was a part of her character as Topsy. She was a comedian and Doing these shows, I mean she was able to hone in her stage presence and her Experience as an actress. Now she played the role as the comedian, making me, you know everybody laugh with the stereotypical type of being a what she called quote-unquote, unquote pick and any, and that's that's basically what they considered her as a pick and any. So and she you know I have to, you know I have to give these Artists, these early blues black artists. You know I gotta give them their credit because I'm I guess I'm looking at things from a Currently current perspective, but they had to endure a lot in order to, for them to become Famous or become, you know, in order for them to become, you know, heard and and to showcase their talent, they had to, you know, play that stereotypical part in order to, you know, and they Said that role, I guess, you know. You look at it in hindsight, you know that that would, that would be a hard thing to do, it would be a hard thing to do, but they did it. So I mean, I, you know, I want to read these Biographies about a lot of these artists. I mean I have to give them their credit because it's again, it's something that, you know, I, I don't, I could never do that, you know. But then again, I'm looking in it from today's perspective. Back then they really didn't have a choice. They weren't giving the Same opportunities as white performers. So, you know, they had to do what they had to do and if it was to make fun of themselves and and be a part of shows that Particularly made fun of them, then they did it. So you know, I Hats off to them All.
Speaker 2:
Right around 1908 or once again, depending on whatever source that you're looking on, 1910, ida met Adler Cox, who was a trumpet player for the Florida Orange blossom minstrels. While she was a part of this show they started to court and short. I mean she had to be like early in her early teens when she met her husband out, adler Cox, so they became married. They worked in the same Circuit minstrel circuit so they got married. But unfortunately their marriage was short lived because Adler was killed during World War one. He served in World War one and in was killed during the war. So Ida still kept the name Cox, eek. She kept, you know, her husband's name even though she was married two more times after that.
Speaker 2:
Anybody who is online, please send a comment or In anybody who you know wants to add on to whatever you know the conversation I welcome. Whatever you know. I like that. The interaction All right by the early 20s. Like I said, her first husband was killed in World War I. But she married again to a man named Eugene Wilson. I'm sorry, eugene Williams, I know it would Eugene Wilson and it wasn't him. So Sorry about that. No, it wasn't you, it was Eugene Williams. And from this merit she had her daughter. Her daughter was named Helen. But little was known about this marriage. It wasn't. There's not much you know information about her and and Eugene Williams, but that they eventually divorce. So again, the marriage didn't last, must have last long. It lost last long enough to for them to have a child. But other than that, you know, that's pretty much it.
Speaker 2:
By the 20s I was able to shed that Picconini role that she was playing in the menstrual shows. So she was starting to transform herself. She was, you know, starting to grow out of that stereotypical Role of playing the you know jolly eating watermelon, fried chicken, happy, sassy mouth, black, young, black girl. So she was able to transform from that and she started to hone in her craft and actually started singing the blues. She began to travel with the theater's owners booking association and she performed in Memphis on the infamous, famous Beale Street. And if anybody who's, you know, been in Tennessee or go to Tennessee you know I've been to Bill Street a few times, several times, and I mean it's one of those is a historical landmark. I mean you just that's where a lot of the early blues singers and blues performers performed when they came into Memphis was Bill Street. So she performed on Bill Street and in 1922, the show that she performed in Memphis, it was aired on the radio and that's basically how she became famous because of being aired on the radio when she was performing and that's how she kind of gained more audience from from that performance.
Speaker 2:
And in 1927, she met and married her third husband, which was Jesse quote unquote tiny crump, who was a blues pianist who played the piano for the theater's owners Booking Association. So he was a pianist for that company and that's how they met. I just, career really began to store during the 20s and they're performing, or performing caught. You know the tension of many, not only the audience but many record producers, particularly the Paramount Recording Company, which is the infamous recording company who had recorded Ma Rainey, among others. So Ida Cox signed on with Paramount Recording Company and between 1923 to 1929, she recorded approximately 73 records with Paramount. She felt proud to be able to record for the same company that Ma Rainey had performed, her idol. I want to give a good shout out to my sister and Bestie, sarita. Thank you so much for tuning in, appreciate you. I really appreciate you. Thank you, love you. All right, she and her husband, jesse Tiny Crump.
Speaker 2:
They began to tour after they became more popular and gained attention with their music. They created a show and took it on the road. One of the things that they created was a tent show called the Raising Cane. That show became very popular. It became as popular because they started getting bookings at the infamous Apollo Theater in New York. During the tour they would take that show, raising Cane, and travel throughout the South. Like I said, they were invited to perform at the Apollo. They toured with that show in the 30s. In the 30s they decided to tweak it and revamp it. They renamed the Raising Cane to Darktown Scandals. They continued to tour with that name Darktown Scandals up until 1939.
Speaker 2:
In 1939, ida Cox was invited to perform at the Carnegie Hall. She was one of the few blues artists that was fortunate to still able to perform, because in the 30s, from the late 20s up until 30s and into the 40s the 40s was the depression she was still able to work. She wasn't lacking as far as not being able to work, so she was working. She was one of the few. In 1945, however, ida suffered a stroke. This happened while she was performing on stage.
Speaker 2:
After her stroke she had to step out of the limelight. She had to retire singing for a while. After trying to recuperate, she went to Knoxville, tennessee. That's where her daughter Helen was. So she decided to stay with her. Again, it doesn't say anything about her husband. What happened? Were they together at that time? I don't know there's no information to say if they were or wasn't.
Speaker 2:
But Ida went to Knoxville and decided to stay with her daughter and recuperate at that time. While she was recuperating, she just left the limelight of singing. But she started to perform. She went back to her roots, as a lot of performers do Black performers particularly they go back to their roots. They started going back to singing in church. She became more active in church and started singing in the church room. During that time she remained out of the limelight. It was like 14 years, from the time she had her stroke in 45, up until 1959. She was out of the. She was all the limelight. She became content in just performing in church and becoming active in the church in Knoxville. She was satisfied with that.
Speaker 2:
It wasn't until late in 1959, 1959, that John Hammond, who was an American record producer at the time, went out to search for her because he wanted to record some more music with her. He put an ad in this newspaper called the Variety Magazine to try to locate her and put an ad out to see if anybody who know anything about Ida Cox and if so, where is she and how can we contact her. So eventually they did find her. They found her. John Hammond found her in 1961. So when he found her he asked and convince her to record what would be her last album. So she did. She came out of the, came out of retirement, so to speak, and recorded her last album, which was called Blues for Rampart Street. Her famous song quote, while women, wild women, don't have the blues, was included on that particular album. So that was considered her last Recording for the blues. After that, after she did her recording, she went back home to to Knoxville, where her daughter Resides, and in 1965, she suffered another stroke. She had another stroke so, but this time, you know, she didn't really fully recover from this stroke, this last stroke, and on November 10th in 1967. Ida Cox unfortunately died. She had cancer and she died at the East Tennessee Baptist hospital and she was 71 years old in 67. So Ida Prather, later known as very famously known as Ida Cox To me she's considered unsung, though she wasn't as popular, as you know, singers like Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith and Mamie Smith.
Speaker 2:
She, by all accounts, bought a classier style to the blues genre, obviously because she was able to perform at Carnegie Hall, which a lot of the other blues artists you know. They didn't have that opportunity but Ida Cox did and it was because of her style of music and her style of how she presented herself, even though she was singing the blues and the blues was basically back then was that down home, rough voice tone and rugged. Ida bought more of a class to the to the genre, so she was more classier and her tone of voice was more of a classier style. So she was particularly able to cross over different. She was Cross over as far as the audience, not only for black audience. She was able to cross over into the white audience as well. So Ida Cox was another part of the blues history and thus, you know, making another history of American music. So that is the story in the biography of Ida Cox.
Speaker 2:
Most of my sources that I received as far as her, her life, was by the Wikipedia and also by bluesorg and the Ida Cox Foundation. All right, so that is the story of Ida Cox, all right, I'd like to thank those who watched me live today. I really appreciate you and, once again, check out wwwmorewineandmusiccom. Like I said, I'm going to be creating a t-shirt with the More Wine and Music podcast logo on there. So if anyone's interested, it would be on the moreshoppingco website, which is really called More Online Mall. So I want you to check it out of post when it's available for purchase. All right, so that is it for the episode of this week.
Speaker 2:
Now, next week, I'm going to be talking about Sunny Boy Williamson, number one, and Sunny Boy Williamson, number two. This is interesting. That would be interesting because I'm going to combine the two. There's not a lot of people didn't know that there was two names of two people named Sunny Boy Williamson, so I'm going to talk about them. You know, put it all in one story and so that that'll be interesting. And I want to tell you that there's a personal connection to one of them. I'm not going to tell you who right now, but there is a personal connection according to my dad. All right, so thanks again for joining me and I want to say cheers and talk to you next week. Bye. Soundstripe, soundstripe, soundstripe, soundstripe, soundstripe, soundstripe, soundstripe.