BESSIE TUCKER

            

                             

                              

En todas las piezas acompañada al piano por K.D. JOHNSON 

 Se sabe poco acerca de la cantante de de blues clásico Bessie Tucker, crecida entre los hollers de los campos de su región al este de Texas . Una mujer cuyo mérito residía en el poder de su voz , se comenta que su leyenda se basa en gran parte en una sesión de 1928 Memphis , subida de tono para el sello Victor en la que estuvo acompañado por el pianista KD Johnson; de ahí surgió  su canción más conocida, "Penitenciaría" (cantado en honor de una institución la cual no le era ajena ). A partir de  1929 siguió, con su vida aunque se le perdió la pista;  Tucker desapareció del mundillo de la farándula  al parecer para siempre; no existen datos sobre los acontecimientos posteriores de su vida.

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Bessie Tucker was an American classic female, country, and Texas blues, singer and songwriter. Her best-known songs are "Penitentiary" and "Fryin' Pan Skillet Blues". Little is known of her life outside the music industry. Her known recording history comprised just twenty-four tracks, seven of which were alternate takes.

Tucker hailed from East Texas. Based on references in her songs, researcher Max Haymes has speculated that she may have been based in Greenville.

She had a light complexion and a small frame, but was said to be "a strong singer with a dark voice". In August 1928, she recorded a number of songs, most of which she wrote herself, for the Victor label in Memphis, Tennessee. She was accompanied on piano by the Dallas-born K.D. Johnson. This recording session yielded her best-known song, "Penitentiary". The subject matter of the song was allegedly not unknown to Tucker.

A second session in Dallas followed in October 1929. There she was again accompanied by Johnson, and by the guitar playing of Jesse Thomas. After this, nothing more is known of her life. Only one photograph of Tucker survives.

In 1960, Dallas pianist Whistlin' Alex Moore told an interviewer that Tucker and Ida May Mack, who had shared the 1928 recording session with Tucker, were both "tough cookies ... don't mess with them". However, in a 1972 conversation, the pianist was unable to recall the name of either singer, leading the interviewer to suspect that he had drawn his own conclusions from their recordings. Music buffs can only affirm that Tucker sang in the same style as Texas singers Texas Alexander, Victoria Spivey and Texas Bill Day, and that her lyrics refer to railroads that all served East Texas and Dallas.

Some of Tucker's tracks, and those of Mack, were made available on a compilation album.All of Tucker's recordings have been made available by Document Records (see below).

She was not related to Sophie Tucker.