Very little is known about the life of Margaret Johnson. She was very active on the vaudeville circuit in the early 1920s and is known to have continued performing up until the early 1930s. Margaret’s recording career spanned the period of 1923 to 1927. She was blessed with excellent accompanists on her records, including Clarence Williams, Bubber Miley, Tom Morris, Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet.
| Margaret Johnson accompanied by the Black and Blue Trio | |
| Margaret Johnson accompanied by Clarence Williams’ Blue Five | |
| Margaret Johnson accompanied by Clarence Williams’ Harmonizers |
| Title | Recording Date | Recording Location | Company |
| Best Friend Blues | 9-8-1927 | New York City, New York | Okeh 8506 |
| Dead Drunk Blues (George W. Thomas) | 2-14-1927 | New York City, New York | Victor 20982-B |
| Death House Blues (Tom Delaney) | 6-9-1925 | New York City, New York | Okeh 8220-A |
| Down Yonder Blues | 10-7-1926 | New York City, New York | Okeh 8418 |
| Everything That Happens Just Pleases Me | 10-7-1926 | New York City, New York | Okeh 8405 |
| Good Women Blues | 2-14-1927 | New York City, New York | Victor 20652 |
| Heavy Burden Blues | 10-7-1926 | New York City, New York | Okeh 8418 |
| I’m a Good Hearted Mama (But I Got a Trifling Man) (Tom Delaney) | 6-9-1925 | New York City, New York | Okeh 8230-A |
| Mama, Papa Don’t Wanna Come Back Home | 10-7-1926 | New York City, New York | Okeh 8405 |
| Nobody’s Blues But Mine (Clarence Williams) | 6-9-1925 | New York City, New York | Okeh 8220-B |
| Second-Handed Blues (1) | 2-14-1927 | New York City, New York | Victor unissued |
| Second-Handed Blues (2) | 2-14-1927 | New York City, New York | Victor 20652 |
| Stinging Bee Blues | 9-8-1927 | New York City, New York | Okeh 8506 |
| What Kind of Love Is That? (Phil Worde / Andy Razaf) | 2-14-1927 | New York City, New York | Victor 20982-A |
| Artist | Instrument |
| Robert Cooksey | Harmonica |
| Bob Fuller | Clarinet |
| Porter Grainger | Piano |
| Mike Jackson ? | Piano |
| Margaret Johnson | Vocals |
| Bobby Leecan | Guitar |
| Bob Ricketts | Piano |
| Clarence Williams | Piano |
| Phil Worde ? | Piano |
Redhotjazz.com was a pioneering website during the "Information wants to be Free" era of the 1990s. In that spirit we are recovering the lost data from the now defunct site and sharing it with you.
Most of the music in the archive is in the form of MP3s hosted on Archive.org or the French servers of Jazz-on-line.com where this music is all in the public domain.
Files unavailable from those sources we host ourselves. They were made from original 78 RPM records in the hands of private collectors in the 1990s who contributed to the original redhotjazz.com. They were hosted as .ra files originally and we have converted them into the more modern MP3 format. They are of inferior quality to what is available commercially and are intended for reference purposes only. In some cases a Real Audio (.ra) file from Archive.org will download. Don't be scared! Those files will play in many music programs, but not Windows Media Player.
