In honor of March being Women’s History Month, I’ve dedicated myself all month to presenting profiles on female blues artists and influencers.  The first three profiles on classic period blues singer Sara Martin, Chicago modern-day vocalist Valerie Wellington, and the ribald vocalist Blue Lu Barker have been very well received, and this week I’ve decided to present an overview of the life and career of a female blues force, not a performer, whose net is cast so widely in the blues world as no one less than the highly successful Alligator Records label owner Bruce Iglauer, in his excellent book Bitten By The Blues – The Alligator Records Story (co-authored with Patrick Roberts), cites this woman as both the ideal model of how a record label owner should comport themselves, and as a friend.  With all that said, I’ve decided to present a quick overview of the founder of the famed Trumpet Records label, Lillian McMurry.

Let’s get into it, and hopefully this summary of McMurry’s life and times inspires you to both seek out additional information on her and the historic blues that came from her Trumpet Records imprint.  And, if you haven’t done so already, I hope that you’ll consider some of the label’s music as worthy additions to your blues collection.

Purvis, Mississippi is where Lillian Shedd came into the world in late December, 1921, a locale which is the county seat of Lamar County, an area in the state’s far south-central region.  By all accounts and research, Shedd’s family was one of a strict Baptist framework.  It is said that due to her family’s staunch Baptist charter she was considerably exposed to music via the religious songs sung in their chosen house of worship.  Study also confirms that during The Great Depression, like many American families, the Shedd household endured significant impoverishment. 

During The Great Depression, while in her very early teen years, the young Shedd needed to enter the workforce to help support her family and contribute to the family’s financial dire position.  To do so, she began a part-time job after her school days concluded.  After the repressive years of The Great Depression ended, Shedd continued to diligently work to help support her family, and analysis indicates that she was employed at a drugstore working long hours, eventually climbing in position to that of the store manager, before accepting a position in Jackson, Mississippi as an administrative assistant in a state government capacity.  During this period, Shedd also chose to begin studying law, looking to her future with big aspirations.

By this time, Shedd was in her mid-20s, and she had begun a relationship with a Jackson, Mississippi furniture store owner named Willard McMurry, a man to whom she would wed in 1945.  The story goes that the relationship started when Shedd wandered into McMurry’s furniture store seeking a piano to purchase.

Roughly four years later, Lillian was assisting in sorting the contents of a hardware operation that her husband had bought when she stumbled upon an accumulation of new blues 78rpm records.  It seems that at one point the hardware store had included in its setup the selling of music.  Of course, this was not at all unusual in the Black community, as records were often sold from places of prominent gathering including barber and beauty shops, along with other retail stores outside of formal record outlets.

Lillian and the workers who were helping her played some of the records, and she experienced a profound feeling unlike any other she had ever encountered.  It is indicated that she was especially moved by Wynonie Harris’ release entitled “All She Wants To Do Is Rock.”  So moved by the totality of the song was Lillian that later she was quoted as saying, “It was the most unusual, sincere and solid sound I’d ever heard.  I’d never heard a black record before. I’d never heard anything with such rhythm and freedom.” 

As a Caucasian woman in the deep U.S. South, Lillian had clearly never been exposed to Black music, and it now became her focus to start selling this newfound music, and she did so from her husband’s furniture store.  Needless to say, Lillian had a life-changing moment with hearing this music.

In fact, Lillian not only set-up an area in the furniture store where she could sell the records she found, but she also devoted her energies to stocking and selling more of the ethnic music she had discovered, so taken with it she had become.  And further, Lillian officially named her new operation in the furniture store “Record Mart,” and its selections included not only blues, but gospel and R&B music, as well.

Too, by the time 1950 rolled around, Lillian had a recording studio built in the Record Mart, as her drive demanded that she also become instrumental in chronicling Black music.  In 1951, Lillian established Trumpet Records as the label to achieve her goals, with the label’s parent corporation named Diamond Record Company.

Trumpet’s initial sides were gospel in nature, but Lillian had the blues on her mind.  She had heard of a mysterious gentleman playing harmonica between movies at not only a local theater but also in cinemas across the Delta expanse that compelled her to both track down and audition this shadowy figure to see if his musical prowess fit her ideal of the sort of bluesman she envisioned being associated with her Trumpet Records label.

By this time, the man she was in search of, Aleck “Rice” Miller aka Sonny Boy Williamson II, had already been established as a prominent fixture in the blues world, by that time some 20 years into his career.  It should also be mentioned that Williamson II and his reputation was strong due to the visibility his talents received from his being part of the immensely popular King Biscuit Time radio program that broadcast throughout the Delta area on Helena, Arkansas’ KFFA radio station.  And importantly for Lillian, Williamson II was definitely reaching the apex of his considerable harmonica, songwriting, and vocal powers.  Lillian was finally able to locate Williamson II, and brought him to her studio to audition for recording.

Williamson II was signed to Trumpet Records, as Lillian obviously recognized his potential for mass appeal in the Black blues market.  Needless to say, Williamson II’s output for Trumpet Records was astounding, with many of the tunes he cut for the label becoming long-time standards in both his repertoire, and in that of the blues, in general.  An Arhoolie Records CD entitled King Biscuit Time collects all of Williamson II’s Trumpet selections on one amazing 18-song disc (Arhoolie Records CD 310).  One selection on the compilation now deserves special attention.

Unbeknownst to the bluesman, Lillian, at the tail end of a Williamson II recording session in 1951, captured a song by a guest to the recording studio, a man who would forever alter the course of electric blues slide guitar stylings, Elmore James.  Lillian was able to record James’ version of “Dust My Broom,” a song that would be forever linked with the artist.  While it proved to be James’ only tune ever released by Trumpet, it was one that achieved significant R&B Top 10 chart success.  However, due to James being unaware of being recorded, he became inflamed and adamantly refused to ever be recorded by Lillian and Trumpet again despite the obvious and forever upward career trajectory the recording of “Dust My Broom” afforded him.  

Due to the success and visibility afforded both Williamson II and James, artists flocked to Trumpet.  The likes of blues pianist Clayton Love, blues guitar man Big Joe Williams, and blues piano player Willie Love found recording opportunities and success through their efforts there, with Lillian deeply entrenched with the individual recording sessions that also found some of the finest bluesmen acting as sidemen.  Those musicians included guitarist Little Milton, guitar player Joe Willie Wilkins, and none other than B.B. King.  The exposure from being included on these Trumpet sessions was invaluable to those acting as session sidemen.

Lillian was also something of a rebel and bucked a long-standing edict that existed in the U.S. South at the time that asserted Blacks and Caucasians should not mingle by having blended bands in her recording studio.

Obviously, the blues was the music that initially stirred Lillian’s emotions, hard, and the music was Trumpet’s staple.  However, as an astute business woman, she diversified the label’s offerings to strongly include gospel, with acts such as the Carolina Kings Of Harmony and other gospel assemblages being presented.

Lillian was also keen enough to record the likes of blues harmonica man Jerry McCain and blues guitarist Arthur Crudup.  She even dipped her toes into certain rockabilly artists.

But as anyone who knows anything about the business side of the music industry, hurdles exist everywhere.  Disloyal artists, poor distribution channels and the fallout from fiscally poor distributorships, the inability to continue to expand Trumpet’s artist roster, and most of all, the incapacity to successfully compete against music’s largest labels and operations doomed Trumpet, with the label ceasing operations in 1955.

However, Lillian tried desperately to keep things alive, and under the name Globe Music, an artist named Lucky Joe Almond laid-down a recording on Globe in early 1956.  It was the last release under Lillian’s efforts.

Following her musical endeavors, Lillian returned to working in her husband’s furniture store.

As Bruce Iglauer points out in his book, he is faithful about paying artist royalties, and so too was the case with Lillian.  After the demise of her recording operations, she tirelessly worked to ensure royalties were paid to Trumpet artists when their releases were re-released on other record labels.  And, any and all debts Lillian’s businesses had incurred were diligently paid-in-full; such was her integrity.

So dedicated and appreciative was Lillian that ten years after her operations folded in 1965, the year that Williamson II passed away, she generously paid for his final resting spot’s headstone.

Lillian was inducted into the Blues Hall Of Fame in 1998 for her sizeable contributions to the music, namely as a record producer, a rare occurrence for the Hall.  Her husband died in 1996.  In 1999 in Jackson, Lillian succumbed to the ravages of a heart attack.

In mid-November, 2007, Lillian was honored with a historical designation at the site of the former Jackson recording location.  Various family members were in attendance, as was Jerry McCain. 

Alligator Records released several collections under its “Trumpet Series” that collected blues by artists including Sonny Boy Williamson II, Willie Love, Tiny Kennedy, Jerry “Boogie” McCain, Big Joe Williams, Arthur “Big Boy Crudup, and others that represent blues recorded by Lillian and her great label.  Searching for those compilations, as well as the aforesaid King Biscuit Time collection will open your eyes to Lillian’s pioneering spirit in driving Black music forward, and her deep love and fascination with the blues.  Seek those CDs out; you’ll not regret it.