Lottie Kimbrough was an American country blues singer, who was also billed as Lottie Beaman, Lottie Kimborough, and Lena Kimbrough. She was a large woman and was nicknamed "The Kansas City Butterball". Her recording career lasted from 1924 to 1929. The music journalist Burgin Mathews wrote that "Kimbrough's vocal power, and the unique arrangements of several of her best pieces, rank her as one of the sizable talents of the 1920s blues tradition."
Biography
Kimbrough was born in either Jonesboro, Arkansas, or West Bottoms, Kansas City, Missouri, and had close links with the Kansas City community. By 1915 she was using the name Lottie Mitchell, and by 1920 she had married William Beaman. Her music career began in the early 1920s, when she performed in nightclubs and speakeasies in Kansas City. Her career was managed by Winston Holmes, a local musician and music promoter. In 1924 she undertook her first recording session, for Paramount Records, where she was recorded alongside Ma Rainey. Her earliest recordings were made with the accompaniment of the twins Milas and Miles Pruitt. She was later backed by Jimmy Blythe. In 1925 she shared recording studio space with Papa Charlie Jackson. The same year she cut some tracks for Merrit Records, owned by Holmes. Kimbrough recorded and performed using a number of pseudonyms. She used her married name, Lottie Beaman, on almost half of her tracks, but for her 1926 recording sessions Holmes suggested that she be renamed Lena Kimbrough. He also used a photograph of her more photogenic sister, Estella, for publicity. Kimbrough also appeared billed as Clara Cary and as Mae Moran. She further recorded in Richmond, Indiana, and pseudonyms were used for issues by Gennett Records, Champion Records, Supertone Records and Superior Records. Her Gennett sessions produced the tracks "Rolling Log Blues" and "Goin' Away Blues", which the music journalist Tony Russell described as having "haunting beauty". Kimbrough's brother Sylvester appeared with her in vaudeville, and in 1926 he supplied recording accompaniment for Paul Banks's Kansas City Trio. However, Kimbrough's musical collaboration with Holmes produced her better-known recordings. Holmes supplied yodels and vocalised bird calls and train whistles on "Lost Lover Blues" and "Wayward Girl Blues". Miles Pruitt participated in this recording and was a regular partner throughout Kimbrough's recording and concert career. He was featured again when Kimbrough recorded her final session, in November 1929. "Rolling Log Blues", one of the songs she wrote, has been recorded by Jo Ann Kelly, Woody Mann, Son House, the Blues Band, Rory Block, Eric Bibb, Maria Muldaur, and Buffy Sainte-Marie. Little is known of her life beyond her recording career. According to records indexed in Ancestry.com, she was born in May 1893, had son Alex Leroy Mitchell in 1912, and her granddaughter Alice was born in 1928.
