L.V. Thomas (''née'' L.V. Grant, August 7, 1891 – May 20, 1979), better known as Elvie Thomas, was an American

country blues Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) is one of the earliest forms of blues music. The mainly solo vocal with acoustic fingerstyle guitar accompaniment developed in the rural Southern United States in t ...

singer and guitarist from

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Name

Thomas's now most well-known designation "Elvie" is a corruption of L.V., used only by Paramount Records. Her fellow musicians addressed her simply as "Slack," which is spoken in the introduction of "Pick Poor Robin Clean." Later in life, after distancing herself from secular music, her fellow parishioners knew her as "Mama Thomas" or "Sister L.V. Thomas." When Thomas was called L.V., the V was accented.

Life

Thomas left school after the fifth grade and began playing guitar at the age of 11 (1902). She began performing at "country suppers" when she was 17. During the 1920s and 1930s, she performed with Texas Alexander, Leon Benton and Leroy Johnson. She recorded two songs issued by

Paramount Records Paramount Records was an American record label known for its recordings of jazz and blues in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey, Tommy Johnson (guitarist), Tommy Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson. Early years Paramoun ...

, " Motherless Child Blues" and "Over to My House", with Geeshie Wiley on second guitar, in March 1930. The two also recorded a duet "Pick Poor Robin Clean". All of Thomas' and/or Wiley's known recordings were made during these same 1930 sessions for Paramount records, in Wisconsin. Thomas backed Wiley on the three other tracks, playing second guitar on Wiley's " Last Kind Words Blues", "Skinny Leg Blues", and "Eagles on a Half"."Geeshie Wiley / L. V. ('Elvie') Thomas"
Wirz.de. Her recordings for Paramount in 1930 were labeled "Elvie Thomas". In an interview with blues researcher Robert "Mack" McCormick, she said of her name, "It's just the letters L. V., . . . that's all the name I got, but he aramount representative Arthur Laibly or pressing foreman Alfred Schultz">Arthur_Laibly.html" ;"title="aramount representative Arthur Laibly">aramount representative Arthur Laibly or pressing foreman Alfred Schultzmade it out 'Elvie' someway." During lengthy periods between 1920 and 1967, Thomas is known to have dressed in men's clothing and lived with a woman named Sarah Goodman Cephus. In her later years, Thomas sang in the choir at the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Acres Homes, Houston">Acres Homes, a suburb of Houston.

References

External links

Discography at Wirz.de
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Elvie 1891 births 1979 deaths 20th-century American singer-songwriters American country singer-songwriters American women country singers American blues singers Country blues musicians American blues guitarists Singer-songwriters from Texas Paramount Records artists 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from Texas 20th-century American women singers Country musicians from Texas 20th-century American women guitarists