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Hattie Hart (c. 1900 - after 1946) was an American Memphis blues singer and songwriter. She was active as a recording artist from the late 1920s to the mid-1930s. Her best known tracks are "I Let My Daddy Do That" and "Coldest Stuff in Town". She worked as a solo artist and as a singer with the Memphis Jug Band. Little is known of her life outside music.

It was stated that "Hart wrote gritty songs about love, sex, cocaine and voodoo".

Career

Hart was born in Memphis, Tennessee, around 1900. She first recorded with the Memphis Jug Band in 1928. She had a reputation for the parties that she hosted at this time. She also sang in the Beale Street area of Memphis, busking with various musicians, where she became one of the best-known performers. Hart's singing style has been compared to that of Sara Martin. She has been described as a "marvellous, tough voiced singer".

Her earliest recording with the Memphis Jug Band was a song she wrote, "Won't You Be Kind?" (1928), with blues dialect in the lyrics: "Now twenty-five cents a saucer, seventy-five cents a cup, But it's an extra dollar papa, if you mean to keep it up." Five recordings of Hart with the Jug Band between 1928 and 1930 are known to exist. She undertook a recording session of her own in September 1934, with Allen Shaw and one other musician, whom some blues historians believe was Memphis Willie B. Hart recorded fourteen tracks for Vocalion Records, only four of which were released at the time.

Hart moved to Chicago, and it is believed she recorded there in 1938 under the name Hattie Bolten. It is not reported whether this was her married name or a pseudonym. After that, she disappeared from public attention, and no further details of her life are known.

Hart's song "I Let My Daddy Do That" was covered by Holly Golightly on her 1997 album Painted On.

Recordings

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (October 2011)

See also

• List of country blues musicians

References

1. ^ Layne, Joslyn. "Hattie Hart: Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved October 16, 2011.
2. ^ "Hart, Hattie". id.loc.gov. Retrieved November 13, 2022.
3. ^ Johnson, Russell. "Hattie Hart". Memphishistory.org. Retrieved October 16, 2011.
4. Britton, Alan John (2010). Uncle Art. Milton Keynes, England: AuthorHouse. p. 84. ISBN 978-1-4520-8388-9.
5. O'Neal, Jim (2002). The Voice of the Blues: Classic Interviews from Living Blues Magazine. New York: Routledge. p. 53. ISBN 0-415-93653-5.
6. Charters, Samuel Barclay (1977). Sweet as the Showers of Rain. Michigan: Oak Publications. p. 21. ISBN 0-8256-0178-9.
7. "Big Road Blues Show". Sundayblues.org. Retrieved October 16, 2011.
8. Calt, Stephen (2009). Barrelhouse Words: A Blues Dialect Dictionary. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press. p. 141. ISBN 978-0-252-07660-2.
9. ^ Wirz, Stefan. "Illustrated Memphis Willie B. Discography". Wirz.de. Retrieved October 16, 2011.
10. "Hattie Hart: 'I Let My Daddy Do That'". Nme.com. Retrieved October 16, 2011.
11. "Hattie Hart". Centrohd.com. Retrieved October 16, 2011.
12. Raggett, Ned. "Holly Golightly, Painted On: Review". AllMusic.
13. "Discography of American Historical Recordings, UC Santa Barbara". Adp.library.ucsb.edu. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
14. "Hattie Hart Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More". AllMusic. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
15. Yronwode, Catherine. "Blues Lyrics and Hoodoo: Supplementary Transcriptions". Luckymojo.com. Retrieved October 16, 2011.
16. Smith, Chris. "Memphis Jug Band Vol. 3 (1930)". Document-records.com. Retrieved October 16, 2011.

• 20th-century African-American women singers
• American blues singers
• Memphis blues musicians
• Country blues singers
• Singers from Memphis, Tennessee
• Songwriters from Tennessee
• Victor Records artists
• African-American songwriters