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Jo Ann Kelly

Still

Still

he said his naim was ralph
To many American performers Jo Ann Kelly was the only British singer to earn their respect for her development of what they would be justified in thinking as 'their' genre.

from: The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray by Tony Russell


It was hard to do "Walking Blues" for instance, but I was not born with a voice like Mavis Staples or Jo Ann Kelly.

Bonnie Raitt


It's no exaggeration to say Jo Ann had the rare combination of extraordinary voice and similarly remarkable instrument skills.
For those unfamiliar we are talking Brit Blues and Memphis Blues revival (homage to Memphis Minnie).
I was very fortunate to see Jo Ann perform many times from the mid 80s, and mostly in fine intimate venues.

There's no official website, but ime this is the best fan offering: https://www.wirz.de/music/kellydsc.htm

If you fancy a listen I strongly recommend her '89 album 'Jo Ann'.


It's currently deleted, but a few reasonable looking copies on discogs: https://www.discogs.com/Jo-Ann-Kelly-Jo-Ann-Kelly/master/643269
 
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She had a great voice! I first came across her on the various Artist album I Asked For Water, she gave gasoline (great album BTW). More recently, I bought the self titled cd originally released in 1969. Shame that she passed away so soon.
 
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I clearly remember when I heard Jo had died. It was a real shock.
She'd had a long course of treatment and appeared to be on the mend.

Thanks for the reply. I thought this thread was going down :=)
 
Never been a lover of honkeys doing the blues. Now I like two, Captain Beefheart and Jo Ann Kelly

Bloss
 
The first time I went to see Jo Ann perform me and my rhythm pal were utterly stunned.
We had only heard Jo Ann's music, but knew nothing about her, so expected a black American woman a bit like Memphis Minnie.
When a petite white women cam on stage, and spoke in a S London accent, we turned to each other and mouthed 'wft - is this the right gig?'
 
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Jo Ann had a very unhappy experience during the recording and release of her 1st album. From then on she avoided commercial record labels, and after her death there were family disputes (iiuc still ongoing), so her legacy is largely deleted/unusual in many ways. fwiw The Woman In (E)Motion cd (discogs) is a fine live recording from 1988.
 

Joe Ann Kelly & Tony McPhee-Oh! Death

I've been kind of obsessed with this track for a long time and since this thread went up, I can't get it out of my head!
 
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