Biography
Although commonly thought to have cut just a single side in her lifetime, blues vocalist Margaret Thornton actually left behind two recordings whose quality and impact could easily have matched dozens. Her 1927 versions of "Texas Bound Blues" and "Jockey Blues," made for the short-lived Black Patti label, belong to the body of early female-blues material that archivist producers such as Document's Johnny Parth have brought out of neglect. Thanks to those efforts her work now occupies a secure position in recording history, prompting one critic to observe that such reissues lend a second sense to the phrase CD "jewel cases."
Thornton's performances were accompanied by pianist Blind James Beck, an artist still more elusive than the singer herself and rendered even fainter by the rudimentary equipment then in use. No details survive concerning her own history, yet the surname Thornton clearly descends from the extensive slave-holding Thornton family that reached American shores aboard vessels such as the Devon during the nation's earliest period. While another Margaret Thornton ranks as the most prolific romance novelist and still another stands out as the most socially engaged opponent of draconic drug statutes, it is the blues singer who most readily invites speculation about unfulfilled promise, as when an admiring critic remarked, "Anyone who could have as much fun with a song as she does with 'Jockey Blues' should've gotten more opportunity." Like many vintage performances that have found favor with blues collectors, Thornton's tracks now appear on more compilation albums than the artist herself ever recorded, routinely serving as highlights within those collections.
Thornton's performances were accompanied by pianist Blind James Beck, an artist still more elusive than the singer herself and rendered even fainter by the rudimentary equipment then in use. No details survive concerning her own history, yet the surname Thornton clearly descends from the extensive slave-holding Thornton family that reached American shores aboard vessels such as the Devon during the nation's earliest period. While another Margaret Thornton ranks as the most prolific romance novelist and still another stands out as the most socially engaged opponent of draconic drug statutes, it is the blues singer who most readily invites speculation about unfulfilled promise, as when an admiring critic remarked, "Anyone who could have as much fun with a song as she does with 'Jockey Blues' should've gotten more opportunity." Like many vintage performances that have found favor with blues collectors, Thornton's tracks now appear on more compilation albums than the artist herself ever recorded, routinely serving as highlights within those collections.