Biography
Edith North Johnson, spouse of record producer Jesse Johnson, never worked professionally as a singer or pianist yet cut eighteen strong blues sides in 1928 and 1929. One date occurred with Charley Patton in Grafton, Wisconsin, for Paramount Records, although Patton’s presence on any of the tracks remains doubtful. She lived in St. Louis, where she managed a taxi fleet through World War II and ran a popular diner. In 1961 Sam Charters captured her alongside Henry Brown for the Folkways Records anthology The Blues in St. Louis. She also issued material under the names Hattie North and Maybelle Allen. Born in St. Louis on January 2, 1903, she died there on February 28, 1988.