Annotation:Memphis Blues

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MEMPHIS BLUES. Old-Time, Blues. Recorded by Chattanooga, Tenn., fiddler and former coal miner Jesse Young in the 1920's. There are other tunes called "Memphis Blues" as well. One was played by Bond's String Band, a late 1920's six to eight piece string band from Corbin, Kentucky, composed almost entirely of railroaders. The group specialized in playing blues tunes but did not record. Blues and ragtime pioneer W.C. Handy (1873-1958), who settled in Memphis, wrote a "Memphis Blues" in 1912, derived from a campaign song he had written for Edward H. "Boss" Crump.

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