During March the Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council will tip its hat to interesting historical women (http://www.ggrwhc.org/legacy.php), among them singers from the limited but colorfulGrand Rapids blues scene. On Thursday, March 18th, local historian Kim D. Rush will present "Giving Up the Blues for Gospel: The Story of Women Blues Singers in Grand Rapids." After a quick nod to a popular audience not necessarily tutored in the blues (backed by historian and discographer Steve Smith), Rush will use the experience of Sippie Wallace to set the context for 1950s and 1960s area women who also tended to move away from singing the "devil's music" (at the Horseshoe Bar on Grandville SW) toward singing gospel at church. Rush has uncovered and documented the stories of Eddie Ingram, Mona Sallie, Roberta Bradley, and a few surprising others through filmed oral histories. Taking a period look at a Grand Rapidsblues scene thriving in the African American community, Rush will give us a front seat for pictures, documents, testimonials--and of course some blues!
7:00 pm, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, 303 PearlNW
Free and open to the public.
Co-sponsored by the GGRWHC with the GeraldR.FordMuseum, the Grand RapidsHistorical
Commission, and the Grand Rapids Historical Society.
Jim Garvelink Roger Stott Walter "Hooker Joe" Davis, 1912 Red Saunders, 1912 John Primer, 1945 Marcia Ball, 1945 Ronnie Earl, 1953 Eric Clapton, 1945 Son House, 1902 Sam Lay, 1935 Furry Lewis, 1893 Big Daddy Kinsey, 1927 Otis Spann, 1930 J.T. Brown, 1929 Walter Trout, 1951 Sonny Terry, 1921 Junior Parker, 1921 Sam Lay, 1921 Jimmie Vaughan, 1951
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