Billie Maxwell

Billie Maxwell
Portrait of Billie Maxwell posed with a horse
Background information
Also known as Billie Maxwell, the Cow Girl Singer
Born 1906
Died 1954
Genres Country music
Instruments Guitar
Years active 1929
Labels Victor Records

Billie Maxwell (1906–1954)[1] was the first woman recorded in country music,[1][2] and the first recorded musician from Arizona.[3] She played guitar with The White Mountain Orchestra, and recorded three vocal discs with Victor Records.

Life

She was born in 1906 to Curtis Maxwell, a locally known fiddler.[2] She grew up in Nutrioso,[3] near Springerville, Arizona.[2] The family worked primarily as ranchers.[3] Her father started a folk group called The White Mountain Orchestra while Billie was a child, and they would perform around the area, often playing at dances.[2] She joined the band as a guitarist in her teens.[4]

She was married in 1929 to A. Chester Warner, a school teacher.[4] She continued playing with the band.[2] Around that time, Ralph Peer was having auditions held around the southwestern U.S. to find new artists for Victor Records.[2] The White Mountain Orchestra was selected from a local audition in June 1929 to travel to El Paso, Texas, to record for him.[4] The band went to El Paso on 2 July 1929 and recorded four songs, including Escudilla Waltz.[4] While Peer was listening to the session, he asked Billie to sing.[4] She recorded five songs singing solo, with guitar and violin.[5] The first song was recorded on July 2, the remainder on July 11.[5] The discs were published with Maxwell identified as Billie Maxwell, the Cow Girl Singer.[5] Her songs spoke honestly of the struggles of poorer women.[3] She continued to perform with the White Mountain Orchestra until the birth of her first child.[2] She had two children,[6] and died at age 48 from cancer.[3]

Discography

Maxwell released three discs with two songs each, in 78rpm format.[3]

Disc One:

  • "Billy Venero, pt I"
  • "Billy Venero, pt II"[5]

It was issued 22 November 1929 and sold 3125 copies.[7]

Disc Two:

  • "The Arizona Girl I Left Behind Me"
  • "The Cowboy's Wife"[5]

It sold 2641 copies.[7]

Disc Three:

  • "Haunted Hunter"
  • "When Your Sweetheart Waits For You, Jack"[5]

It sold 1300 copies.[7]

The Cowboy's Wife was re-released on the Banjo Pickin' Girls album published by Rounder.[8] Billy Venero was re-released on When I Was A Cowboy, Vol. 2: Early American Songs of the West, Classic Recordings from the 1920s and 30s by Yazoo Records.[9] Her original discs are collector's items, worth more than $400 in 2011.[3] Her work was featured in the Musical Instrument Museum's 100 Years of Arizona Music exhibit.[2]

References

Sources

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/30/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.