Billie Maxwell
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Billie Maxwell (1906–1954) was an American guitarist and singer. She is often said to be the first woman recorded in
country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
, and the first recorded musician from
Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
but she was actually neither: Rosa Lee Carson, the daughter of Fiddlin' John Carson (one of the first recorded country music acts) and professionally known as 'Moonshine Kate' cut the first recorded country music records by a woman during a June, 1925 session for Okeh records. Billie Maxwell played guitar with The White Mountain Orchestra and recorded six sides solo for the
Victor Talking Machine Company The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer, incorporated in 1901. Victor was an independent enterprise until 1929 when it was purchased by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and became ...
in July, 1929 following the recordings made by the White Mountain Orchestra, which made her part of the first recorded country music act in Arizona, and Arizona's first recorded female country singer.


Life

She was born in 1906 to Curtis Maxwell, a locally known
fiddler A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially syno ...
. She grew up in Nutrioso, near
Springerville, Arizona Springerville () is a town in Apache County, Arizona, United States, within the White Mountains. Its postal ZIP Code is 85938. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town was 1,961. Springerville sits at an elevation of above sea lev ...
. The family worked primarily as ranchers. Her father started a folk group called The White Mountain Orchestra while Billie was a child, and they would perform around the area, often playing at dances. She joined the band as a guitarist while in her teens. In 1929 she married A. Chesser Warner, a school teacher and continued playing with the band. Around the same time,
Ralph Peer Ralph Sylvester Peer (May 22, 1892 – January 19, 1960) was an American talent scout, recording engineer, record producer and music publisher in the 1920s and 1930s. Peer pioneered field recording of music when in June 1923 he took remote re ...
, noted recording engineer and talent scout for the Victor Talking Machine Company, was having auditions held around the southwestern U.S. to find new Victor recording artists. The White Mountain Orchestra was selected from a local audition in June 1929 to travel to
El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...
, to record for him. The band went to El Paso on 2 July 1929 and recorded four songs, including ''Escudilla Waltz''. While Peer was listening to the session, he asked Billie to sing. She recorded five songs singing solo, with guitar and violin. The first song was recorded on July 2, the remainder on July 11. The discs were published with Maxwell identified as Billie Maxwell, the Cow Girl Singer. Her songs spoke honestly of the struggles of poorer women. She continued to perform with the White Mountain Orchestra until the birth of her first child. She had two children, and died from cancer in 1954 at age 48.


Discography

Victor issued three
78rpm A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The g ...
records (six songs) by Maxwell. Disc One: It was issued 22 November 1929 and sold 3125 copies. Disc Two: It sold 2641 copies. Disc Three: It sold 1300 copies. ''The Cowboy's Wife'' was re-released on the ''Banjo Pickin' Girls'' album published by Rounder. ''Billy Venero'' was re-released on ''When I Was A Cowboy, Vol. 2: Early American Songs of the West, Classic Recordings from the 1920s and 30s'' by Yazoo Records. Copies of her original Victor discs are valuable collector's items. Her work was featured in the Musical Instrument Museum's ''100 Years of Arizona Music'' exhibit.


References


Sources

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maxwell, Billie 1906 births 1954 deaths American women country singers American country singer-songwriters People from Apache County, Arizona 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American singer-songwriters Guitarists from Arizona 20th-century American women singers Country musicians from Arizona 20th-century American women guitarists Singer-songwriters from Arizona