ROCK ‘N ROLL: 1922 Style with Trixie Smith

Trixie Smith was born in Atlanta, GA in 1895 and worked the minstrel shows and Chitlin Circuit...

 On January 20 in 1922,  a blues singing contest was held at the Inter-Manhattan Casino in New York City. Trixie Smith won first place and a silver cup with her song "Trixie's Blues"  

Miss Trixie Smith, was immediately signed to the recently founded Black Swan Records and started making recordings…

One of the first tunes she recorded was  "My Man Rocks Me (With One Steady Roll)" (1922),  written by J. Berni Barbour, of historic interest as the first secular recording to reference the phrase "ROCK 'N ROLL".

Although her early reference to Rock ‘n Roll is certainly memorable, she is most remembered for "Railroad Blues," (1925) a song that featured one of Smith's most inspired vocal performances on record, and "The World Is Jazz Crazy and So Am I" (1925). Both songs feature Louis Armstrong on cornet.

She recorded prolifically between 1925 and 1929—For example:

In the early 1930s, Trixie Smith’s career took a turn to the stage and big screen--She appeared in four movies: God's Step Children (1938), Swing! (1938), Drums o' Voodoo (1934), and The Black King (1932)--and her Blues singing career waned.

 She did produce seven tracks for Decca between 1938 and 1939:

A remake of Railroad Blues, re-named “Freight Train Blues” was one of them…

And the reefer smokers’ favorite,
 “Jack I’m Mellow” another…

Trixie Smith died in New York in 1943, after a brief illness, aged 48

R.I.P. TRIXIE SMITH—YOU WERE WAY AHEAD OF YOUR TIME!!!