HMR Project: History of Music & Modern Recording

Geeshie Wiley & Elvie Thomas

Geeshie Wiley is another of the more ghostly figures in early blues. Nigh everything known about her being speculative, she was possibly born in Louisiana on 14 November 1908. Steve Leggett (allmusic / itunes) has her in a possible early relationship with Papa Charlie McCoy, she also working with a medicine show in Jackson, Mississippi, sometime in the twenties. Geeshie may have married Casey Bill Weldon following his divorce from Memphis Minnie.

It was March of 1930 in Houston when she and older Elvie Thomas (aka Slack born in Houston 7 August 1891) traveled to Grafton, Wisconsin, to record four titles which they followed the next year in March of 1931. By order of matrix those were:

   L-254-2   c March 1930   Paramount 12977   Motherless Child Blues
      Guitar: Geeshie Wiley   Guitar / vocal: Elvie Thomas
   L-257-4   c March 1930   Paramount 12951   Last Kind Words Blues
      Guitar / vocal: Geeshie Wiley
   L-261-1   c March 1930   Paramount 12951   Skinny Leg Blues
      Guitar / vocal: Geeshie Wiley
   L-265-1   c March 1930   Paramount 12977   Over to My House
      Guitar / vocal: Geeshie Wiley   Guitar / vocal: Elvie Thomas
   L-824-1   c March 1931   Paramount 13074   Pick Poor Robin Clean
      Guitar / vocal: Geeshie Wiley   Vocal: Elvie Thomas
   L-826-1   c March 1931   Paramount 13074   Eagles on a Half
      Guitar / vocal: Geeshie Wiley   Vocal: Elvie Thomas

'Motherless Child Blues' is thought to be Thomas' composition in collaboration with Wiley. All others were composed by Wiley with Thomas collaborating on 'Over to My House' and 'Pick Poor Robin Clean'. Both Thomas and Wiley disappeared into obscurity after those sessions. Though they may have performed together to as late as 1933 in Oklahoma they made no more recordings. Their repertoire below is chronological by matrix:

'Motherless Child Blues' Geeshie Wiley backing Elvie Thomas

C March 1930 in Grafton WI Matrix L-254-2 Paramount 12977

Composition: Thomas / Wiley

'Last Kind Words Blues' Solo by Geeshie Wiley

C March 1930 in Grafton WI Matrix L-257-4 Paramount 12951

Composition: Wiley

'Skinny Leg Blues' Solo by Geeshie Wiley

C March 1930 in Grafton WI Matrix L-261-1 Paramount 12951

Composition: Wiley

'Over to My House' Geeshie Wiley w Elvie Thomas

C March 1930 in Grafton WI Matrix L-265-1 Paramount 12977

Composition: Wiley / Thomas

'Pick Poor Robin Clean' Geeshie Wiley w Elvie Thomas

C March 1930 in Grafton WI Matrix L-824-1 Paramount 13074

Composition: Wiley / Thomas

'Eagles On a Half' Geeshie Wiley w Elvie Thomas

C March 1930 in Grafton WI Matrix L-826-1 Paramount 13074

Composition: Wiley

As mentioned, the six titles above represent the entire discography of Wiley and/or Thomas. Wiley may have died somewhere in Texas on 29 July 1950. Thomas spent her later years in Houston singing in a choir at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Acres Homes, a suburb of Houston, dying in her nineties on 20 May 1979.

Sources & References for Geeshie Wiley:

Last.fm

Steve Leggett (All Music)

John Jeremiah Sullivan (New York Times Magazine)

VF History (notes)

Wikipedia

Audio of Wiley: Internet Archive YouTube YouTube

Recordings: Catalogs: Discogs Music Brainz RYM

Recordings: Sessions: Stefan Wirz (American Music / 1927-31)

Repertoire: Last Kind Words Blues (1930)