Ma Rainey

Who Was Ma Rainey?

Ma Rainey, often hailed as the first prominent stage entertainer to integrate authentic blues into her musical repertoire, was a significant figure in the evolution of American music during the early 20th century. Active throughout the first three decades of the 1900s, she gained widespread acclaim during the blues craze of the 1920s. Her work has notably inspired influential poets such as Langston Hughes. Described by African American poet Sterling Brown in Black Culture and Black Consciousness as “a person of the folk,” Rainey’s recordings span various musical styles and reflect the genuine influence of rural blues. She is widely recognized as the first great female blues vocalist.

Early Career

Born Gertrude Pridgett on April 26, 1886, in Columbus, Georgia, Ma Rainey was the daughter of minstrel performers Thomas Pridgett, Sr., and Ella Allen-Pridgett. Rainey’s early career began in 1900 at the Springer Opera House, where she showcased her talents as a singer and dancer in the local talent show A Bunch of Blackberries. On February 2, 1904, she married comedy songster William “Pa” Rainey, and the couple toured Southern tent shows and cabarets under the moniker “Ma” and “Pa” Rainey.

While Rainey did not encounter blues music in her hometown, her extensive travels by 1905 exposed her to authentic country blues, which she subsequently incorporated into her performances. As noted by Daphane Harrison in Black Pearls: Blues Queens, “Her ability to capture the mood and essence of Black rural southern life of the 1920s quickly endeared her to throngs of followers throughout the South.”

In 1912, while performing with the Moses Stokes troupe, the Raineys met a young dancer named Bessie Smith, who would later become a prominent figure in the blues genre. Although earlier historical accounts credited Rainey with being Smith’s vocal coach, contemporary scholars generally agree that her influence on Smith’s singing style was limited. As Chris Albertson remarked in the liner notes for Giants of Jazz, “Ma Rainey probably did pass some of her singing experience on to Bessie, but the instruction must have been rudimentary. Though they shared an extraordinary command of the idiom, the two women delivered their messages in styles and voices that were dissimilar and manifestly personal.”

Ma Rainey: The Empress of the Blues

In the early 20th century, around 1915, Ma Rainey embarked on a significant chapter of her career by touring with Fat Chappelle’s Rabbit Foot Minstrels. Following this engagement, she gained notoriety as the “Assassinators of the Blues” while performing with Tolliver’s Circus and Musical Extravaganza. After separating from her husband in 1916, Rainey took the reins of her career, touring with her own ensemble, Madam Gertrude Ma Rainey and Her Georgia Smart Sets, which included a chorus line and the Cotton Blossoms Show, as well as Donald McGregor’s Carnival Show.

With the assistance of Mayo “Ink” Williams, Rainey made her recording debut in 1923 for the Paramount label, just three years after Mamie Smith’s groundbreaking blues recording. By this time, she was already a well-regarded figure in the Southern theater circuit, entering the recording industry with considerable experience and stylistic maturity. Her inaugural recording session with Austin and Her Blue Serenaders featured the traditional piece “Bo-Weevil Blues.” Fellow blues artist Victoria Spivey later remarked, as noted in The Devil’s Music, “Ain’t nobody in the world been able to holler ‘Hey Boweevil’ like her. Not like Ma. Nobody.”

In 1923, Rainey also recorded “Moonshine Blues” alongside Lovie Austin and “Yonder Comes the Blues” with Louis Armstrong. That same year marked the release of “See See Rider,” a track that Arnold Shaw characterized in Black Popular Music in America as one of the most enduring and frequently recorded blues songs. Rainey’s version was the first to be recorded, securing her copyright and establishing her significant influence within the genre.

In August 1924, she recorded the eight-bar blues piece “Shave ‘Em Dry,” featuring Miles Pruitt on 12-string guitar. Folklorist W.K. McNeil remarked in the liner notes to The Blues that the piece exemplified Rainey’s distinctive style: “a driving, unornamented vocal propelled along by an accompanist who plays the number straight. Her artistry brings life to what in lesser hands would be a dull, elementary piece.”

Professionalism and Artistic Influence

Distinct from many of her contemporaries, Rainey established herself as a professional performer both on stage and in business. Mayo Williams, cited in the liner notes for August Wilson’s 1988 play Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, described her as a “shrewd businesswoman,” noting that “we never tried to put any swindles on her.” During her five-year recording tenure at Paramount, Rainey recorded nearly ninety tracks, most addressing themes of love and sexuality—bawdy subjects that earned her the moniker “Madam Rainey.” As William Barlow articulated in Looking Up at Down, her songs were not only diverse but also deeply rooted in the everyday experiences of Southern Black people. Rainey’s blues depicted straightforward narratives of heartbreak, promiscuity, revelry, travel, labor, and the Southern African American experience in the Post-Reconstruction era.

With the success of her early recordings, Rainey participated in a promotional tour for Paramount, featuring a newly formed backing band. In 1924, Thomas A. Dorsey recruited musicians for Rainey’s touring ensemble, The Wild Cats Jazz Band. Serving as both director and manager, Dorsey assembled talented musicians who could adeptly read arrangements while embodying a “down home” blues style. Rainey’s tour debut at Chicago’s Grand Theater marked a historic moment, as it was the first appearance of a “down home” blues artist at this renowned venue.

Draped in elaborate gowns adorned with diamonds and gold jewelry, Rainey captivated her audiences. She often began her performances with “Moonshine Blues,” emerging dramatically from an oversized Victrola to a rapturous reception. As Dorsey recounted in The Rise of Gospel Blues, “When she started singing, the gold in her teeth would sparkle. She was in the spotlight. She possessed listeners; they swayed, they rocked, they moaned and groaned, as they felt the blues with her.”

Later Years and Legacy

Rainey continued to perform with her Wild Jazz Cats on the Theater Owner’s Booking Association circuit (TOBA) until 1926. After Dorsey departed, she recorded with various musicians for Paramount, often under the name Ma Rainey and Her Georgia Jazz Band, which included notable artists such as Fletcher Henderson, Claude Hopkins, and Louis Armstrong. In 1927, she recorded tracks like “Black Cat, Hoot Owl Blues” with the Tub Jug Washboard Band, and during her final recording sessions in 1928, she collaborated with her former pianist Thomas “Georgia Tom” Dorsey and guitarist Hudson “Tampa Red” Whittaker, producing tracks such as “Black Eye Blues,” “Runaway Blues,” and “Sleep Talking Blues.”

Despite the decline of the TOBA and vaudeville circuits in the early 1930s, Rainey remained active, often performing in tent shows. After the passing of her mother and sister, she retired from music in 1935 and settled in Columbus, Georgia, where she devoted herself to managing two entertainment venues—the Lyric Theater and the Airdome—and participating in the Friendship Baptist Church.

Ma Rainey passed away on December 22, 1939, in either Rome or Columbus, Georgia.

Cultural Impact

Rainey’s contributions to the American blues tradition have been profound, inspiring generations of artists and writers, including poets such as Langston Hughes and Sterling Brown, the latter of whom honored Rainey in his 1932 poem “Ma Rainey.” More recently, Alice Walker drew upon Rainey’s legacy in her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple, framing her music as a model of African American womanhood. Daphane Harrison praised Rainey in Black Pearls, declaring her the first great blues stage singer: “The good-humored, rollicking Rainey loved life, loved love, and most of all loved her people. Her voice bursts forth with a hearty declaration of courage and determination—a reaffirmation of Black life.”

In 2020, Wilson’s acclaimed play Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom was adapted into a film, featuring Viola Davis as Rainey and Chadwick Boseman as the trumpeter Levee, further solidifying Rainey’s enduring legacy in American music and culture.