Geeshie Wiley facts for kids

Geeshie Wiley was an American country blues singer and guitar player. She recorded six songs for Paramount Records in April 1930. These songs were released on three records.

According to blues historian Don Kent, Wiley "may well have been the rural South's greatest female blues singer and musician." Not much is known about her life. There are no known photographs of her. She may have been born Lillie Mae Boone on November 14, 1908. She might have later been known as Lillie Mae Scott. She possibly died on July 29, 1950.

Her Music Recordings

In April 1930, Geeshie Wiley traveled with singer and guitarist Elvie Thomas. They went from Houston, Texas to Grafton, Wisconsin. Their trip was to make recordings for Paramount Records.

Wiley recorded "Last Kind Words Blues" and "Skinny Leg Blues." She sang and played the guitar on these songs. Elvie Thomas also played guitar to help her.

Thomas recorded two songs of her own. These were "Motherless Child Blues" and "Over to My House." Wiley played guitar and sang harmony on Thomas's songs. Some sources suggest that Wiley and Thomas recorded two more songs in March 1931. These were "Pick Poor Robin Clean" and "Eagles on a Half."

Steve Leggett from AllMusic said that Wiley's singing on "Last Kind Words Blues" was amazing. He described it as one of the best performances in early country blues. It is believed that fewer than ten original copies of Wiley's records still exist today.

The Mystery of Her Life

Very little is known about Geeshie Wiley. The few details shared by different sources are often not the same. "Geeshie" (sometimes spelled "Geechie" or "Geetchie") was likely a nickname.

Many ideas have been shared about her life. Musician Ishmon Bracey said she came from Natchez, Mississippi. He also said she had a romantic link with blues musician Papa Charlie McCoy.

It has also been suggested that she worked in a medicine show in Jackson, Mississippi, in the 1920s. Some believe she might have married Casey Bill Weldon.

Herbert Wiley, a singer and bass player from Oxford, Mississippi, said Geeshie was his cousin. He said her family had farmed in South Carolina. His father told him she died in 1938 or 1939. He thought she might be buried in his family's plot in Oxford. Music expert Eric S. LeBlanc suggested her name was Wadie May Wiley. He thought she was born near Oxford in 1906.

Research by Robert "Mack" McCormick was shared by John Jeremiah Sullivan in The New York Times in 2014. McCormick said he visited Wiley's former home in the 1950s. He spoke to her family members in Oklahoma.

McCormick also interviewed Wiley's recording partner, L. V. "Elvie" Thomas, in Texas in 1961. Thomas started performing with Wiley in the early 1920s. She remembered her as Lillie Mae Wiley and claimed to have given her the nickname. The nickname "Geechie" was common for people from coastal South Carolina and Georgia. It was also a kind nickname for young women from rural areas in the American South.

Thomas said that in the 1950s, she heard Wiley was living in West Texas. Later research suggests Wiley was born in Louisiana on November 14, 1908. This research also suggests she was the same Lillie Mae Scott. Wiley was performing again with Thomas around 1933. This was their last tour together.

According to McCormick, Thomas said, "I haven’t seen [Wiley] since 1933. I left her in Chico, Oklahoma [likely Checotah]. ... We’d gone out playing around together, traveling, and I left her up there and came on back." Sullivan also spoke to a Houston musician, John D. "Don" Wilkerson. He claimed to remember Wiley. He hinted that there was something unusual about her background.

According to researcher Caitlin Love, Lillie Mae Wiley (born Boone) died in 1950. She was buried with her mother in Brushy Cemetery in Burleson County, Texas.

Her Musical Legacy

Several of Geeshie Wiley's songs are included on a special music collection. These songs are "Last Kind Words," "Motherless Child Blues," "Skinny Legs Blues," and "Pick Poor Robin Clean." They are part of the compilation album Mississippi Masters: Early American Blues Classics 1927–35 by Yazoo Records.

In the documentary film Crumb (1994), the artist Robert Crumb plays Wiley's "Last Kind Words Blues." He listens as his cartoons are shown.

"Last Kind Words Blues" has been covered by many other artists:

• David Johansen and the Harry Smiths covered it on their 2002 album Shaker. Johansen also sang part of the song in the movie Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus (2003).
• C. W. Stoneking included a very similar cover of the song on his 2006 album Mississippi & Piedmont Blues 1927–1941.
• Dex Romweber Duo released a version with Jack White, on White's record label, Third Man Records.
• Ransom Riggs used the song in his video "Talking Pictures." In the video, he talks about old photographs.
• Rhiannon Giddens, from the group Carolina Chocolate Drops, sang the song on her solo album, Tomorrow Is My Turn.
• The Kronos Quartet performed a special version of the song. This was at their fortieth anniversary concert in 2013.
• Hogan & Moss recorded their version of "Last Kind Words" in 2016. It was on their album You've Been That Friend To Me.
• "Last Kind Words Blues" appeared on the Robert Plant / Alison Krauss album Raise the Roof. This album was released in November 2021.

Discography