Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton

I could rattle out quite a few male blues harp players, from Sonny Boy Williamson, Sonny Terry to Paul Butterfield and Little Walter.

When it comes to woman harp players I know only one, as a matter of fact I’ve heard only one…..Willie Mae ‘Big Mama’ Thornton.

I had first heard her in a rock n roll compilation album, the unprocessed original version of “Hound Dog”….Elvis’ far more familiar rendition seemed totally watered down after that, not putting down Elvis and his enormity as an artiste.

Ok, but Janis Joplin’s version of Big Mama’s ‘Ball and Chain’ is a different thing altogether, Joplin made it sound like a raw private anguish…brilliant rendition. I have to verify this but I do remember reading somewhere that ‘Big Mama’ dedicated this song to Joplin after her death.