In 1969, when the Alabama blues pioneer Massive Mama Thornton inked a cope with Chicago’s Mercury Data to file her third album, Stronger Than Dust, she was 42 years outdated and attempting to revive a profession that had seemingly peaked a quarter-of-a-century earlier.
Again in 1953, the singer – a minister’s daughter who was born Willie Mae Thornton and dubbed “Big Mama” due to her highly effective voice and imposing physique – had spent seven heady weeks on the summit of the US R&B singles chart with “Hound Dog.” A rowdy rhythm and blues quantity a couple of no-good man, “Hound Dog” was specifically written for her by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Within the wake of the file’s phenomenal success, she recorded a clutch of similar-sounding follow-up singles, although none of them charted. However the singer’s profession appeared set for a revival in 1956 when the rock and roll sensation Elvis Presley famously topped the US Sizzling 100 along with his rock and roll tackle “Hound Dog.” Sadly, the profile-raising enhance Thornton had hoped for by no means materialized.
Hearken to Massive Mama Thornton’s Stronger Than Dust now.
When the Sixties arrived, Thornton was nonetheless lively, usually performing reside and recording the occasional independently launched single. However in 1966, her profession acquired a welcome uptick when she carried out in a San Francisco bar the place a younger, white blues singer named Janis Joplin noticed her. Joplin, then fronting the West Coast psych-blues-rock band Massive Brother & The Holding Firm, was purportedly mesmerized by one music specifically, a Thornton unique referred to as “Ball and Chain.” Given permission by Thornton to cowl it, Joplin and the group debuted the music on the 1967 Monterey Pop Pageant and later included it on their second album, the next yr’s chart-topping Low-cost Thrills.
After a few years within the doldrums, Thornton’s half-dormant profession started to return alive once more. She recorded her personal model of “Ball and Chain” as a single for the Arhoolie label in 1968 and though it wasn’t a success, the curiosity in her music drummed up by Massive Brother And The Holding Firm’s model was sufficient to ship Mercury Data her method. She additionally did some gigs opening for Joplin, who went solo in 1968 and incessantly acknowledged Thornton’s affect to her viewers and in interviews.
The Chicago label put Thornton within the studio with famous West Coast producer Al Schmitt, whose credit then ranged from Duane Eddy to Jefferson Airplane. What resulted was Stronger Than Dust, launched in 1969, which showcased Thornton’s distinctive voice in a variety of settings. Apart from up to date variations of “Hound Dog” and “Ball and Chain,” Schmitt persuaded Thornton to sort out modern materials. She roared her method via Wilson Pickett’s “Funky Broadway,” remodeled Albert King’s “Born Under A Bad Sign” right into a sluggish after-hours jam, and injected Ray Charles’ 1966 R&B hit “Let’s Go Get Stoned” with a deep blues sensuality.
Schmitt additionally allowed Thornton to point out her gospel music roots by way of her stirring renditions of Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released” and Muddy Waters’ “Rollin’ Stone,” the latter remodeled right into a high-octane Baptist rave-up. The album’s piece de resistance, although, was her surprisingly delicate studying of George Gershwin’s jazz normal “Summertime,” her voice shifting from a fierce low growl to an eerie excessive falsetto.
In August 1969, Stronger Than Dust peaked at No. 198 on The Billboard 200, placing Massive Mama Thornton’s identify into the consciousness of the American mainstream public for the primary time in her life. The popularity it introduced her resulted in Mercury bankrolling a second album, 1970’s The Approach It Is, a recording that captured her in live performance. It wasn’t as profitable as her Mercury debut, prompting the label and singer to half firm quickly after. Thornton solely made three extra albums after that, dying in 1984 from alcoholism on the age of 57.
A spirited girl armed with a giant persona and formidable stage presence, Massive Mama Thornton, like her idol Bessie Smith earlier than her, dropped at the blues – so usually a male protect – a feminine perspective. Her music touched not solely Janis Joplin but additionally a number of blues singers who adopted the path she blazed, like Etta James, Sandra Corridor, and, extra just lately, Shemekia Copeland.
Stronger Than Dust stays one of many blues singer’s go-to albums, its title a testomony not solely to Thornton’s personal resilience in a profession with extra downs than ups but additionally a defiant celebration of African American perseverance in an unjust society.
Hearken to Massive Mama Thornton’s Stronger Than Dust now.
