Blues singer Mary Johnson (March 29, 1898 or 1900 – July 20, 1983) got her start in show business as a teenager in St. Louis. She frequently worked with Blues singer and guitarist Lonnie Johnson and in 1925 they were married. They had six children together and divorced in 1930. For some reason they never recorded together. She continued to perform predominantly in the St. Louis area up until the mid-1940s. After leaving show business she was active in the church and worked in a hospital. Johnson was sometimes billed as “Signifying Mary”.
Thanks to Dennis Pereya for his help with this page.
| Title | Recording Date | Recording Location | Company |
| Barrel House Flat Blues (Mary Johnson) |
11-1929 | Grafton, Wisconsin | Paramount 12996 |
| Black Gal Blues | 8-24-1934 | Chicago, Illinois | Decca 7014 |
| Black Men Blues (Mary Johnson) |
5-9-1929 | Chicago, Illinois | Brunswick 7081 |
| Broken Window Pane | 5-28-1936 | Chicago, Illinois | Decca unissued |
| Dawn Of Day Blues | 4-8-1930 | Chicago, Illinois | Brunswick 7153 |
| Death Cell Blues | 4-8-1930 | Chicago, Illinois | Brunswick 7160 |
| Deceitful Woman Blues | 8-20-1934 | Chicago, Illinois | Decca 7014 |
| Delmar Avenue | 5-22-1936 | Chicago, Illinois | Decca 7035 |
| Dream Daddy Blues (Mary Johnson) |
11-1929 | Grafton, Wisconsin | Paramount 12931 |
| Feather Bed Blues | 5-22-1936 | Chicago, Illinois | Decca unissued |
| Friendless Gal Blues | 4-8-1930 | Chicago, Illinois | Brunswick 7160 |
| I Just Can’t Take It | 5-23-1936 | Chicago, Illinois | Decca 7305 |
| Key To The Mountain Blues (Mary Johnson) |
11-1929 | Grafton, Wisconsin | Paramount 12996 |
| Mary Johnson Blues (Mary Johnson) |
9-22-1932 | Richmond, Indiana | Champion 16570 |
| Mean Black Man Blues (Mary Johnson) |
11-1929 | Grafton, Wisconsin | Paramount 12931 |
| Morning Sun Blues | 4-9-1930 | Chicago, Illinois | Brunswick 7175 |
| Muddy Creek Blues | 5-7-1929 | Chicago, Illinois | Brunswick 7093 |
| No Good Town Blues | 4-9-1930 | Chicago, Illinois | Brunswick 7175 |
| Peepin’ At The Risin’ Sun | 8-18-1934 | Chicago, Illinois | Decca 7012 |
| Rattlesnake Blues Blues | 9-22-1932 | Richmond, Indiana | Champion 16570 |
| Room Rent Blues | 5-7-1929 | Chicago, Illinois | Brunswick 7093 |
| Those Black Men Blues | 8-18-1934 | Chicago, Illinois | Decca 7012 |
| Three Months Ago Blues | 4-8-1930 | Chicago, Illinois | Brunswick 7153 |
| Western Union Blues (Mary Johnson) |
5-9-1929 | Chicago, Illinois | Brunswick |
| Yalla Man | 5-22-1936 | Chicago, Illinois | Decca unissued |
| Stop My Barrel House Ways | 5-22-1936 | Chicago, Illinois | Decca unissued |
| Artist | Instrument |
| Kokomo Arnold | Guitar |
| Henry Brown | Piano |
| Judson Brown | Piano |
| Curtis Mosby | Violin |
| Ike Rodgers | Trombone |
| Roosevelt Sykes | Piano |
| Tampa Red | Guitar |
| Peetie Wheatstraw | 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.
