Jo Anne Kelly -- what happened?

Subject: RE: Jo Anne Kelly -- what happened?
From: Dale Rose
Date: 10 Sep 99 - 01:16 AM

I was wondering about that, but wasn't going to say anything!

Subject: RE: Jo Anne Kelly -- what happened?
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 10 Sep 99 - 12:58 AM

Above post was from Mrs LEJ (Lion).

Subject: RE: Jo Anne Kelly -- what happened?
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 09 Sep 99 - 03:47 PM

I have an album named Blues Like Showers of Rain, featuring Jo Ann Kelly and her brother Dave. I have not spoken to anyone in the last 27 years who had ever heard of her. I am so sorry she died. We shared a memorable moment in a pub restroom, she borrowed my hairbrush! What a delight it was to watch her roll a cigarette with one hand and then belt out "Chauffeur" a Memphis Minnie song.

Subject: RE: Jo Anne Kelly -- what happened?
From: GeorgeH
Date: 09 Sep 99 - 08:22 AM

Just checked - there's a Jo Anne track on the magnificent Richard Thompson project CD, Hard Cash - the sound track from an infamous TV series which the BBC made but pulled from the schedules under pressure from (then) Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Originally released on Topic's Special Delivery label and recently re-released by (IIRC) Fledg'ling. Should have a place in everyone's collection.

Does anyone know if that would be Jo Anne's last recording?

G.

Subject: RE: Jo Anne Kelly -- what happened?
From: Art Thieme
Date: 06 Sep 99 - 08:48 PM

Dale, Thanks. That's a fascinating site.

Art

Subject: RE: Jo Anne Kelly -- what happened?
From: Ray Banks
Date: 06 Sep 99 - 08:23 PM

Joanne Kelly could sing the real country blues with a feel that i've never heard another white singer manage.She used to do superb treatments of the songs of Memphis Minnie, Robert Johnson and others. I played harmonica with her for a couple of numbers back in the sixties at a folk club in Swansea, South Wales. She appeared at a club in Doncaster, where I now live, a couple of months before she died - she remembered me and I played three more numbers with her. She seemed fit and well at the time, and played and sang beautifully. When I read that she had died of a brain tumour I couldn't believe it. It was a terrible loss, but she can't have suffered for more than a month or two. Ray

Subject: RE: Jo Anne Kelly -- what happened?
From: Dale Rose
Date: 06 Sep 99 - 02:40 PM

Here's the discography mentioned in the original post. Looks like yours was #2, Art ~~ released in 1969, and reissued on CD this year. (available from CDNow, and I suppose others) Mine was #3 from 1972 on Blue Goose, and apparently only a few tracks have been reissued.

Subject: RE: Jo Anne Kelly -- what happened?
From: teller
Date: 06 Sep 99 - 02:06 PM

The name of the thread caught my eye - and what a shock!! I've been a little out of touch for a good few years now, but used to run a club in West London. We we're lucky enough to have Jo Anne as a guest on a couple of occassions - she was SUCH a beautiful person. Indeed, a sad loss - and the strange thing is, I was wondering what had become of several of the people we used to have at the 'Bear', Jo Anne among them. I never knew, and even though it's been a goodly while since I heard any of her songs, I still feel kind of empty. Sleep well, Jo Anne. Teller.

Subject: RE: Jo Anne Kelly -- what happened?
From: Dale Rose
Date: 06 Sep 99 - 11:11 AM

Art, I have one with a yellow cover. Would that one do? I'll have to dig it out ~~ come to think of it, I haven't seen it in quite a while. Over the years, I bought a couple of Stefan Grossman albums and CDs just to hear Jo Ann Kelly sing. I still listen to them every now and then. . . . One of my favorite voices of all time, and certainly #1 in Blues for me.

Subject: RE: Jo Anne Kelly -- what happened?
From: Art Thieme
Date: 06 Sep 99 - 11:03 AM

I had a Jo Anne Kelly LP back in the late 60s I believe. It was wonderful---but it disappeared. Does anyone know if it was ever issued on CD? I think it was on Epic Records---had a green-ish cover...

Art

Subject: RE: Jo Anne Kelly -- what happened?
From: Lady McMoo
Date: 02 Sep 99 - 10:43 AM

Yes....I knew JoAnne and as Rick said she died in '90 of brain cancer...it was a terrible loss at a very early age of a great talent.

mcmoo

Subject: RE: Jo Anne Kelly -- what happened?
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 02 Sep 99 - 01:10 AM

Poor JoAnne suffered from cancer for many years, and it finally got her. She was a heck of a blueswoman.

Rick

Subject: Jo Anne Kelly -- what happened?
From:
Date: 02 Sep 99 - 01:02 AM

I recently picked up a CD of slide guitar work and there was a version of Come On In My Kitchen on it by Jo Anne Kelly -- who until that point I'd never heard of. Her voice and guitar work really impressed me, so I went looking for more about her. I found her on-line discography and I've found a couple of references to her in books, all noting she died in 1990. But none of the sources say how. Illness, accident, OD, suicide? Does anybody know? Whatever, based on what I've heard so far, it's one helluva talent lost.

thanx

ddw