In Netflix's new film Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Viola Davis stars as the heavy makeup-wearing, velvety-voiced, super confident Ma Rainey. Based on August Wilson's play of the same name, most of the ...

The White Sulphur Springs Public Library will host a living history performance portraying blues legend Bessie Smith at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26.

Smith was barnstorming the South, performing her act under a canvas tent for Black audiences or in segregated theaters. One sweltering night in July, it took her to the heart of Concord’s Black ...

If Bessie Smith were alive today, she’d likely be singing the blues about North Carolina. A state advisory panel has recommended against approval of a highway historical marker for the night the blues ...

"The Empress of the Blues" gave voice the listeners' tribulations and yearnings of the 1920s and '30s. A new 10-CD box set collects the complete... The Mythic Power Of Bessie Smith Vocalist Bessie ...

BILL HALEY & HIS COMETS: (Singing) We're gonna rock around the clock tonight. We're gonna rock, rock, rock till broad daylight. Sponsored message SHAPIRO: Or does rock 'n' roll owe a debt to ...

August 5, 2019 • There's a world of music you enter when you open the Bessie Smith door. Our playlist showcases some of of Smith's best songs, as well as music from her influences and inheritors.