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William Christopher Handy's "Memphis Blues" Was Published
September 28, 1912
Born in Alabama in 1873, W.C. Handy found his true calling when he began playing cornet with dance bands traveling the Mississippi Delta. Along the road, Handy wrote down and collected blues songs he heard in the 1890s. Audiences, however, wanted to hear ragtime dance tunes, the lively and popular music of the day, so that's what he played. When he settled in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1909, Handy found a sophisticated population with a limitless appetite for music. Music was so popular in Memphis that an aspiring mayor, E.H. Crump, hired Handy as the bandleader for his campaign.
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CREDIT: Van Vechten, Carl, photographer. "Portrait of William Christopher Handy." July 17, 1941. Creative Americans: Portraits by Carl Van Vechten, 1932-1964, Library of Congress.
AUDIO CREDIT: Harrison, W.S. "Jaybird," Sylvester "Texas Stavin' Chain" Jones, and Wallace "Stavin' Chain" Chains, performers. "Worry Blues." Recorded Ramsey State Farm, Otey, Texas, April 23, 1939. The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip, Library of Congress.
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