Memphis Minnie spent three decades proving there was no instrumental or vocal trick in the blues she couldn't master, from Delta fingerpicking to the electric bite she brought to 'When the Levee Breaks' in 1929. A fierce, prolific songwriter who recorded roughly two hundred sides, she outplayed most of her male peers and outlasted most of her male rivals in the process. She died in 1973, an essential and still-underrated architect of modern blues guitar.

the sound in question

1929

When the Levee BreaksMemphis Minnie