12/12/2023 0 Comments Retrospect knoxvilleThis college-educated black man was instrumental in launching the careers of several blues artists including the aforementioned Ma Rainey. It was during this time that she was discovered and signed to a recording contract by Paramount Records' talent scout, Mayo Williams. Having divorced her first husband, Adler Cox (of the Florida Blossom Minstrel Show), she later married Texas piano man Jesse "Tiny" Crump. Dorsey, aka Georgia Tom, would later experience a religious conversion, pen such gospel classics as "Peace in the Valley" and "Precious Lord, Take My Hand" and be hailed as the "Father of Gospel Music.")Īs for Ida Cox, she, too, worked the circuit with pianists like Jelly Roll Morton, performing at the 81 Theater in Atlanta and Tom Anderson's Cafe in New Orleans as well as appearing on Memphis' WMC Radio. King), the field was firmly established by a handful of black women accompanied by pianists.Īmong these were the flamboyant, dangerous-living "Empress of the Blues," Bessie Smith, and the incomparable Ma Rainey who interestingly toured briefly with Georgia Tom backing her on the piano. However, it was certainly a different era, and any fame or fortune garnered at that time would hardly rival the attention lavished upon our current black female music stars such as singer-actress Whitney Houston, pop/jazz sensation Natalie Cole or urban/R&B prodigy Alicia Keyes.īefore blues was guitar driven and male dominated ( à la John Lee Hooker and B. While recording technology at that time was quite primitive compared to today's premier studios in New York, London, Los Angeles and Nashville, the early blues recordings, distributed by "race" labels, were well received, stimulating commercial success and even some critical acclaim. It would later decline with the introduction of sound motion pictures, but several vaudeville singers would somewhat reinvent themselves and subsequently become the founders of the blues genre as we know it. In the early 1900s, vaudeville was a popular entertainment form, uniquely highlighting music, dance, comedy and other performances in separate, independent acts. With a humble beginning, reportedly along Toccoa's Prather Bridge Road, Ida Cox would eventually perform in metropolises such as Chicago and New York.Ĭould the little black girl, with Georgia red clay between her toes, have envisioned the glamorous career that awaited? Whether or not she dreamed of "making it," history reveals her unique style and charisma propelled her to a degree of success equaled or exceeded by only a few and envied by countless others at that time. Prather resides at Riverside, the Greek Revival house originally built by Mr. She recounts that it was her husband's grandfather, Joseph Jeremiah Prather, who utilized slave labour. Prather (son of Senator James Devereaux Prather), indicates the family had "owned over a thousand acres along the Tugaloo" on which they grew corn and cotton. The Prathers possessed vast amounts of real estate, operated cotton gins and, among other enterprises, farmed the bottoms along the Tugaloo River (a Savannah River tributary now part of Hartwell Reservoir). Ida Cox descended from slaves owned by a very prominent family in the Toccoa area, hence her maiden name. As a teenager, she ran away from home to travel the South with a minstrel revue, performing in vaudeville houses and tent shows. ![]() ![]() Born Ida Prather on Februin Toccoa, Georgia, the future blues legend and her family left what is now Stephens County when she was quite young, moving to Lawrenceville before finally settling in Cedartown.
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