| “If Geeshie Wiley did not exist, she could not be invented: her scope and creativity dwarfs most blues artists. She seems to represent the moment when black secular music was coalescing into blues.” |
| Don Kent's liner notes to "Mississippi Masters: Early American Blues Classics 1927-35" (Yazoo CD 2007, 1994) |
Geeshie Wiley (sometimes rendered as Geechie Wiley) was an obscure female United States blues singer and guitar player. She recorded three disc records in the early 1930s. Ishman Bracey (whose testimony may or may not be accurate) said that Wiley was from Natchez, Mississippi or nearby, and at one time or another romantically linked to Papa Charlie McCoy. She is rumored to have worked in a medicine show in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1920s. Wiley may have been married to Casey Bill Weldon for a time, following his divorce from Memphis Minnie. Wiley recorded "Last Kind Word Blues" and "Skinny Leg Blues" in Grafton, Wisconsin for Paramount Records in March of 1930, with Elvie Thomas backing her on second guitar. (Thomas also recorded two songs for Paramount at the session, "Motherless Child Blues" and "Over to My House," with someone, presumably Wiley, providing second guitar and vocal harmonies.) In 1931 Wiley and Thomas returned to Grafton to record two more sides for Paramount, "Pick Poor Robin Clean" and "Eagles on a Half." Further details of Wiley's early and later life, her career, and her legal name are unknown. The nickname "Geechie" or "Geechee" was most commonly given to people from around coastal South Carolina and Georgia. David Johansen and the Harry Smiths covered "Last Kind Words" on their 2002 album Shaker.
Discography
- Paramount Records #12951 - March 1930 Geeshie Wiley: Last Kind Words / Skinny Leg Blues
- Paramount Records #12977 - March 1930 Elvie Thomas & Geeshie Wiley: Motherless Child Blues / Over to My House
- Paramount Records #13074 - March 1931 Geeshie Wiley & Elvie Thomas: Pick Poor Robin Clean / Eagles On a Half
External links
- Illustrated Geeshie Wiley discography
- Three of Geeshie's songs are available for download at archive.org: [1], [2], [3],
