Victoria Spivey was one of the more influential blues women simply because she was around long enough to influence legions of younger women and men who rediscovered blues music during the mid-'60s U.S. blues revival, which had been brought about by British blues bands as well as their American counterparts, like Paul Butterfield and Elvin Bishop. Spivey could do it all: she wrote songs, sang them well, and accompanied herself on piano and organ, and occasionally ukulele.
Spivey began her recording career at age 19 and came from the same rough-and-tumble clubs in Houston and Dallas that produced Sippie Wallace. In 1918, she left home to work as a pianist at the Lincoln Theater in Dallas. In the early '20s, she played in gambling parlors, gay hangouts, and whore houses in Galveston and Houston with Blind Lemon Jefferson. Among Spivey's many influences was Ida Cox, herself a sassy blues woman, and taking her cue from Cox, Spivey wrote and recorded tunes like "TB Blues," "Dope Head Blues," and "Organ Grinder Blues." Spivey's other influences included Robert Calvin, Sara Martin, and Bessie Smith. Like so many other women blues singers who had their heyday in the '20s and '30s, Spivey wasn't afraid to sing sexually suggestive lyrics, and this turned out to be a blessing nearly 40 years later given the sexual revolution of the '60s and early '70s.
She recorded her first song, "Black Snake Blues," for the Okeh label in 1926, and then worked as a songwriter at a music publishing company in St. Louis in the late '20s. In the '30s, Spivey recorded for the Victor, Vocalion, Decca, and Okeh labels, and moved to New York City, working as a featured performer in a number of African-American musical revues, including the "Hellzapoppin' Revue.'' In the '30s, she recorded and spent time on the road with Louis Armstrong's various bands. By the '50s, Spivey had left show business and sang only in church. But in forming her own Spivey Records label in 1962, she found new life in her old career. Her first release on her own label featured Bob Dylan as an accompanist. As the folk revival began to take hold in the early '60s, Spivey found herself an in-demand performer on the folk-blues festival circuit. She also performed frequently in nightclubs around New York City. Unlike others from her generation, Spivey continued her recording career until well into the '70s, performing at the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival in 1973 with Roosevelt Sykes. Throughout the '60s and '70s, she had an influence on musicians as varied as Dylan, Sparky Rucker, Ralph Rush, Carrie Smith, Edith Johnson, and Bonnie Raitt.
Spivey's many albums for Spivey and other labels include the excellent Songs We Taught Your Mother (1962), which also includes contributions from Alberta Hunter and Lucille Hegamin, Idle Hours (1961), The Queen and Her Knights (1965), and The Victoria Spivey Recorded Legacy of the Blues (1970).
In 1970, Spivey was awarded a "BMI Commendation of Excellence" from the music publishing organization for her long and outstanding contributions to many worlds of music. After entering Beekman Downtown Hospital with an internal hemorrhage, she died a short while later in 1976. Spivey is buried in Hempstead, N.Y.
Volume 1
01. Black Snake Blues
02. Dirty Woman's Blues
03. Long Gone Blues
04. No More Jelly Bean Blues
05. Hoodoo Man Blues
06. Spider Web Blues
07. It's Evil Hearted Me
08. Santa Fe Blues
09. Humored And Petted Blues
10. Big Hoston Blues
11. Got The Blues SO Bad
12. Blue Valley Blues
13. Steady Grind
14. Idle Hour Blues
15. Arkansas Road Blues
16. The Alligator Pond Went Dry
17. No. 12 Let Me Roam
18. T-B Blues
19. Garter Snake Blues
20. Christmas Morning Blues
21. Dope Head Blues
22. Red Lantern Blues
23. Blood Thirsty Blues
Volume 2
01. Nightmare Blues
02. Murder In The First Degree
03. Jelly Look What You Done Done
04. Your Worries Ain'T Like Mine
05. A Good Man Is Hard To Find
06. My Handy Man
07. Organ Grinder Blues (Take A)
08. Organ Grinder Blues (Take C)
09. New Black Snake Blues - Part 1 (Duet With Lonnie Johnson)
10. New Black Snake Blues - Part 2 (Duet With Lonnie Johnson)
11. No Papa No!
12. Toothache Blues - Part 1 (Duet With Lonnie Johnson)
13. Furniture Man Blues - Part 2 (Duet With Lonnie Johnson)
14. Furniture Man Blues - Part 2 (Duet With Lonnie Johnson)
15. Mosquito Fly And Flea
16. Toothache Blues - Part 2 (Duet With Lonnie Johnson)
17. You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now! - Part 1 (Duet With Lonnie Johnson)
18. You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now! - Part 2 (Duet With Lonnie Johnson)
19. Funny Feathers
20. How Do You Do It That Way
21. Funny Feathers Blues (Take 1)
22. Funny Feathers Blues (Take 2)
23. How Do They Do It That Way (Take 1)
24. How Do They Do It That Way (Take 2)
Volume 3
01. Blood Hound Blues
02. Dirty T.B. Blues
03. Moaning The Blues
04. Telephoning The Blues
05. New York Blues
06. Lonesome With The Blues
07. Showered With The Blues
08. Haunted By The Blues
09. You've Gotta Have What It Takes - Part 1
10. You've Gotta Have What It Takes - Part 2
11. Baulin' Water Blues - Part 1
12. Baulin' Water Blues - Part 2
13. Mama's Quittin' And Leavin' - Part 1
14. Mama's Quittin' And Leavin' - Part 2
15. Nebraska Blues
16. He Wants Too Much
17. Low Down Man Blues
18. Don't Trust Nobody Blues
19. Dreaming 'Bout My Man
20. Sweet Please
21. Black Snake Swing
22. I'll Never Fall In Love Again
23. T B's Got Me
Volume 4
01. Dreaming of You [take 1]
02. Dreaming of You [take 2]
03. I Can't Last Long
04. Mr. Freddie Blues [take 1]
05. Mr. Freddie Blues [take 2]
06. Trouble in Mind
07. Hollywood Stomp
08. Detroit Moan
09. Any-Kind-a-Man [take 1]
10. Any-Kind-a-Man [take 2]
11. I Ain't Gonna Let You See My Santa Claus
12. One Hour Mama
13. Harlem Susie-Kue
14. Give It to Him [take 1]
15. Give It to Him [take 2]
16. Got the Blues So Bad
17. Down Hill Pull
18. From 1 to 12 (Dirty Dozen)
19. Good Cabbage
20. Time Ain't Long [take 1]
21. Time Ain't Long [take 2]
22. Don't Love No Married Man
