1939
I'M TIRED OF FATTENIN' FROGS FOR SNAKES * ROSETTA CRAWFORD * BRUNSWICK 03461 * UK
I'm not sure if Rosetta Crawford cut this timeless Perry Bradford song first, as it's something of a Blues standard now, but she certainly makes a class job of it. She is backed on this recording by The Jimmy Johnson Band, featuring: Tommy Ladnier, trumpet (this was Ladnier's last session, he died four months later); Mezz Mezzrow, clarinet; James P. Johnson, piano; Teddy Bunn, guitar; Elmer James, bass; and Zutty Singleton on drums. Rosetta Crawford first recorded with Sidney Bechet in 1923 and, like countless other blues singers from the first half of the 20th century, is now all but forgotten - women who sang the Blues faired worse than their male counterparts on this score even later with the rise of the electric blues artists like Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, and John Lee Hooker - she rarely shows up in Blues discographies, yet her music is as vibrant and relative today as when it was recorded.
See also: Double Crossin' Papa