Biography
Lillian Glinn (May 10, 1902 – July 22, 1978) was an American classic female blues and country blues singer and songwriter, remembered as one of the Texas voices of the 1920s “race records” era.[1][6] Born in Hillsboro, Texas, she moved to Dallas as a young woman, where she sang spirituals in church before transitioning to the stage.[1][6][8] Fellow blues singer Hattie Burleson heard Glinn in a church setting and encouraged her to move into professional performance, helping her enter the black vaudeville circuit that was thriving in Texas and the South in the mid‑1920s.[1][3][6] By the end of 1927 Glinn had secured a contract with Columbia Records and began making records at a time when blues records by African American women played a central role in the early recording industry.[1][7]
Between 1927 and 1929 Glinn recorded 22 sides for Columbia in six sessions held in New Orleans, Atlanta, and Dallas, including titles such as “Black Man Blues,” “Doggin’ Me Blues,” “Atlanta Blues,” and “Shake It Down,” which brought her national attention.[1][5][7] Her specialty was slow blues ballads delivered in a rich, heavy contralto voice, often focused on the harsher realities of life and laced with sexual innuendo.[1] Musicologist David Evans has suggested that many of the titles credited without composer information were likely her own compositions, making her an exception among Columbia’s female blues singers of the time.[1] After her brief recording career, Glinn returned to a church‑centered life; she moved to California, married the Rev. O. P. Smith, and withdrew from secular performance.[1][2][6] Though her records went out of print for decades, blues historian Paul Oliver later singled her out as a singer who “deserve[d] far greater recognition,” and her complete recorded works were finally reissued in the late twentieth century, securing her place among the classic female blues singers.[1][4][5][8]
Fun Facts
- Blues historian Paul Oliver spent years trying to locate Lillian Glinn after her records had been out of print for more than half a century, finally interviewing and photographing her in 1971.[1][4]
- Although many female blues singers of her label sang material written for them, musicologist David Evans has argued that a number of Glinn’s recordings without listed composers were probably her own songs, making her unusual among Columbia’s classic blues artists.[1]
- Glinn’s entire known recorded output—just 22 tracks cut between 1927 and 1929—was not gathered in one place until it was issued as a complete compilation by Document Records in 1994.[1][5]
- Despite gaining national attention in the late 1920s, Glinn left secular music entirely, moved to California, and lived the rest of her life in a church context as the wife of a minister, the Rev. O. P. Smith.[1][2][6]
Musical Connections
Mentors/Influences
- Hattie Burleson - Fellow Texas blues singer who discovered Glinn singing spirituals in church and encouraged her transition into professional vaudeville performance. (No specific joint recordings documented; influence centered on discovery and guidance into the black vaudeville and recording circuits.) [Mid‑1920s, prior to and leading into Glinn’s 1927–1929 Columbia recording period.[1][3][6]]
Artists Influenced
- Later blues researchers and revival artists (general influence) - Glinn’s small but distinctive body of recordings became a reference point for scholars like Paul Oliver and for later classic‑blues enthusiasts; however, specific named musicians directly citing her as an influence are not documented in reliable sources. (Her 1927–1929 Columbia recordings, as compiled on later reissues such as “Complete Recorded Works (1927–1929).”) [Influence primarily from the blues revival and reissue era onward (from the 1960s–1990s), as her work was rediscovered and reissued.[1][4][5]]
Connection Network
External Links
Tags: #blues, #vaudeville-blues
References
Heard on WWOZ
LILLIAN GLINN has been played 1 time on WWOZ 90.7 FM, New Orleans' jazz and heritage station.
| Date | Time | Title | Show | Spotify |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 7, 2026 | 09:53 | WHERE HAVE ALL THE BLACK MEN GONEfrom SHAKE IT DOWN | Traditional Jazzw/ Tom Saunders |