Artist Info: Johnnie Mae Dunson

Johnnie Mae is an 80 plus year old lady blues singer who was a former drummer in Chicago and who is known for writing blues songs recorded by Jimmy Reed.

If Johnnie Mae Dunson was cooking up a batch of gumbo or her special pepper steak with gravy, it was a good bet that bluesman Willie Dixon would be right over.

Other musicians would also stop by, and Mrs. Dunson's West Side apartment would be the setting for songwriting sessions that produced some of the standards in the Chicago blues repertoire. [read more...]