Universally recognized as one of the greatest blues artists, Memphis Minnie wrote and recorded hundreds of songs, among them the famous Bumble Bee Blues, I'm Talking About You, and What's the Matter with the Mill? Blues people as diverse as Muddy Waters, Johnny Shines, Big Mama Thornton, and Chuck Berry have acknowledged her as a major influence. At a time when most female vocalists sang Tin Pan Alley material, Minnie wrote her own lyrics and accompanied her singing with magnificent guitar-playing. Thanks to her imagination and dark humor, her songs rank among the most vigorous and challenging popular poetry in any language. Although organized feminism was at its lowest ebb, Memphis Minnie, a black working-class woman, called no man master, defied gender stereotypes, and exemplified a radically adventurous life-style that makes most careers of the '20s and '30s seem dull by comparison. This is the first full-length study of her life and work