Virginia Liston (c. 1890 – June 1932) would most likely be barely remembered today if she had not sung on a Clarence Williams Blue Five record that featured both Sidney Bechet and Louis Armstrong. The record was “Early In The Morning” and “You’ve Got The Right Key, But The Wrong Keyhole” and Virginia shows that she was a pretty good blues singer.

Little is known about Liston’s early life. She reportedly was singing in vaudeville as early as 1912. In the early 1920s she was living in Washington D.C. with her husband Sam Gray and touring the T.O.B.A. vaudeville circuit with him in an act called “Liston and Liston”. The couple recorded one record together in January of 1924. They were divorced sometime around 1925. Virginia’s last recording session was in 1927 with the Clarence Williams Washboard Band, where she sang “Cushion Foot Stomp” and “P.D.Q. Blues“. Liston retired from show business in 1929 re-married and settled in St. Louis, Missouri where she reportedly died in 1932.

Title	Recording Date	Recording Location	Company
Any Day The Sun Don’t Shine (Andy Razaf / Fats Waller)	10-25-1924	New York, New York	Okeh 8196-B
Bed Time Blues Piano accompaniment by Clarence Williams (Sam Gray / Virginia Liston)	9-18-1923	New York, New York	Okeh 8092-A
Bill Draw (Clarence Williams / Virginia Liston)	10-24-1924	New York, New York	Okeh 8173-B
Black Sheep Blues	6-3-1925	New York, New York	Okeh 8223-B
Don’t Agitate Me Blues (Sam Gray / Virginia Liston)	9-15-1923	New York, New York	Okeh 8151-B
Evil Minded Blues	5-29-1926	New York, New York	Vocalion 1031
Happy Shout (Sam Gray / Will B. Overstreet)	9-15-1923	New York, New York	Okeh 8134-A
House Rent Stomp (De Coven Thompson / W.H. Hendrickson)	9-24-1923	New York, New York	Okeh 8134-B
I Ain’t Gonna Play No Second Fiddle (Perry Bradford)	6-1-1925	New York, New York	Okeh 8234
I Ain’t Got Nobody (Nobody Cares For Me) (Abel Baer / Samuel Lewis / Joseph Young)	6-3-1925	New York, New York	Okeh 8223
I Don’t Love Nobody (Porter Grainger / Bob Ricketts)	1-7-1924	New York, New York	Okeh 8138-B
I’m Gonna Get Me A Man That’s All (Virginia Liston)	5-29-1926	New York, New York	Vocalion 1032
I’m Sick Of Fattening Frogs For Snakes (Perry Bradford)	6-3-1925	New York, New York	Okeh 8234
I Never Knew What The Blues Were (Until You Went Away) (Clarence Williams)	4-1924	New York, New York	Okeh 8151-A
Jailhouse Blues (Clarence Williams / Bessie Smith)	1-10-1924	New York, New York	Okeh 8122
Just Take One Long Last Look (Milt Hagen / Henry Welling / Charles O’Flynn)	1-2-1924	New York, New York	Okeh 8126-A
Make Me A Pallet	6-2-1925	New York, New York	Okeh 8247-A
Mississippi Blues (Lucille Hegamin / Spencer Williams)	4-1924	New York, New York	Okeh 8160-A
Monkey Jungle Blues	10-25-1924	New York, New York	Okeh 8247-B
Night Latch Key Blues (Virginia Liston)	10-25-1924	New York, New York	Okeh 8196-A
Papa De Da Da (Clarence Williams / Clarence Todd / Spencer Williams)	6-1-1925	New York, New York	Okeh 8218-A
Pineland Blues (Sidney Easton)	10-1924	New York, New York	Okeh 8175-B
Rolls Royce Papa (Virginia Liston)	5-29-1926	New York, New York	Vocalion 1032
Sally Long Blues (Virginia Liston / Sam Gray / Clarence Williams)	9-21-1923	New York, New York	Okeh 8115-A
Sally Long Blues (Virginia Liston / Sam Gray / Clarence Williams)	11-15-1923	New York, New York	Okeh 8115-A
San Francisco Blues (Thomas “Baby” Grice)	4-1924	New York, New York	Okeh 8160-B
Shreveport Blues (Annie S. Potter)	9-24-1923	New York, New York	Okeh 8122-B
Titanic Blues	5-29-1926	New York, New York	Vocalion 1031
‘Tain’t A Doggone Thing But The Blues (Porter Grainger / Bob Ricketts)	1-7-1924	New York, New York	Okeh 8138-A
Weeping Willow Blues (Paul Carter)	10-1924	New York, New York	Okeh 8175-A
You Can Have It (I Don’t Want It) (A.J. Piron / Clarence Williams / May Hill)	1-2-1924	New York, New York	Okeh 8126-B
You Can Dip Your Bread In My Gravy, But You Can’t Have None Of My Chops (Fred Longshaw / Mike Jackson)	6-2-1925	New York, New York	Okeh 8218-B
You Don’t Know My Mind Blues (Virginia Liston / Sam Gray / Clarence Williams)	9-21-1923	New York, New York	Okeh 8115-B
You Don’t Know My Mind Blues (Virginia Liston / Sam Gray / Clarence Williams)	11-15-1923	New York, New York	Okeh 8115-B
You Thought I Was Blind, But Now I See Piano accompaniment by Clarence Williams (Sam Gray / Clarence Williams / Virginia Liston)	9-18-1923	New York, New York	Okeh 8092-B

Artist	Instrument
Sidney Bechet	Clarinet
Ernest Elliot	Clarinet
Porter Grainger	Piano
Sam Gray	Vocals, Piano
Clarence Williams	Piano
Sylvester Weaver?	Guitar