Kansas Joe McCoy, b. 11 May 1905, Raymond, Mississippi; d. 28 January 1950, Chicago. Memphis Minnie, b. Lizzie Douglas, 3 June 1897, Tunica County, Mississippi; d. 6 August 1973, Memphis.
A Columbia talent scout reportedly found the pair busking outside a Memphis barber shop, and a company A&R man handed them the stage names they kept for life. They married in 1929, the same year they travelled to New York for their first session, and recorded as a duo for Columbia and Vocalion until the partnership — and the marriage — came apart in the mid-1930s. Minnie went on to a recording career spanning three decades and roughly 200 songs; McCoy’s most durable composition turned out to be “Why Don’t You Do Right?”, a jazz standard by way of Lil Green, Benny Goodman and Peggy Lee.
Who recorded it
Songs Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie recorded first