Ruby Smith

Bessie Smith was the Empress of the Blues, and Ruby Walker was her niece by marriage. She tried to get herself recorded as early as 1926, but was eclipsed by her aunt, who discouraged her from making records on her own. While the music she eventually did manage to record is worth pursuing, Ruby's more than 70-minute interview (taped by historian Chris Albertson and released on the fifth and final box set of Columbia's complete Bessie Smith edition in the '90s) is a valuable resource that contains some of the best, most candidly phrased memories of Bessie Smith in existence. Th...