Geeshie Wiley

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Geeshie Wiley (here and there Geechie Wiley called) was an obscure African-American blues - singer and guitarist . She recorded three 78 rpm records in the early 1930s , two of them with her equally obscure partner Elvie Thomas .

Apart from their recordings, hardly anything is known about both of them. However, the nickname "Geechie" or "Geechee", which is mostly common in the coastal states of South Carolina and Georgia , suggests that one of these states was their home. In the 1920s, Wiley is believed to have appeared on a medical show in Jackson, Mississippi .

Wiley recorded the songs "Last Kind Word Blues" and "Skinny Leg Blues" in March 1930 in Grafton, Wisconsin for Paramount ; she accompanied Elvie Thomas on the second guitar. (Thomas also recorded two songs at this session, namely "Motherless Child Blues" and "Over to My House"; it is possible, but unconfirmed, that Geeshie Wiley contributed the second guitar and the harmony vocals.) In 1931, Wiley traveled and Thomas went back to Grafton and recorded two more songs together: "Pick Poor Robin Clean" and "Eagles on a Half".

No information can be found about Geeshie Wiley's later life, her further career (and her actual first name). The unusual quality of their songs (especially “Last Kind Words” with its mood that changes between major and minor in a strange way) means that until recently they have been re-released on record compilations (including on the soundtrack to Terry Zwigoff's 1994 film Crumb about comic illustrator Robert Crumb ). Don Kent said of her "She seems to embody the moment when black profane music has merged into the blues."

David Johansen and the Harry Smiths covered "Last Kind Words" on the album "Shaker" in 2002.

Discography

  • Geeshie Wiley: Last Kind Words / Skinny Leg Blues (Paramount Records 12951 - March 1930)
  • Geeshie Wiley & Elvie Thomas: Pick Poor Robin Clean / Eagles On a Half (Paramount Records 13074 - March 1931)

Possible participation:

  • Elvie Thomas: Motherless Child Blues / Over to My House (Paramount Records 12977 - March 1930)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Don Kent's accompanying text for "Mississippi Masters: Early American Blues Classics 1927-35" (Yazoo CD 2007, 1994)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Wiley, Geeshie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wiley, Geechie
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American blues singer and guitarist
DATE OF BIRTH before 1930
DATE OF DEATH after 1931