JIMMY MCHUGH WROTE IT…
TORCH SINGER LITTLE MISS CORNSHUCKS IMMORTALIZED IT
Today, most people have never heard of Little Miss Cornshucks, let alone had the chance to hear her music.
Little Miss Cornshucks (real name: Mildred Cummings) was, above all, a unique live performer. She riveted audiences from Los Angeles to Chicago to New York in the post-World War II years, the “after-hours blues” era between swing and rock ‘n’ roll.
The late Ahmet Ertegun, renowned co-founder of Atlantic Records, chose to begin his memoir by remembering Miss Cornshucks as ‘the best blues singer I’ve ever heard.’
In 1943 Ertegun heard her sing in a Washington D.C. hole in the wall joint. He said he was so taken by her voice that it made him determined to go into the record business. She was literally the very first artist he ever recorded.
In his book Ertegun says that (seeing her that night) ‘was the reason I got into this business’…. ’Cornshucks was just so…soulful.’
A lover of poignant, torchy ballads, Miss Cornshucks performed for largely black audiences i.e. rural southerners who had migrated to northern towns. They seemed to respond best to a touch of down home country so she began wearing down-and-out poor girl hand-me-downs.
Her stagewear eventually morphed into an outlandish pantaloons-and-gingham-dress get-up that would become a key part of her emerging Little Miss Cornshucks stage persona. Never finding shoes that seemed quite right, she started going onstage barefoot!
Throughout the 1950s Miss Cornshucks continued to perform, building a following across the country. Unfortunately, marital problems triggered her alcohol and drug abuse, from which her career began to suffer.
In 1961 Cornshucks was signed to Chess Records by Ralph Bass, the venerable record business pro who ‘discovered’ James Brown.
The resulting ‘comeback’ LP The Lonesomest Girl In The World, took its name from the Jimmy McHugh tear-jerking ballad that was the albums centerpoint.
One journalist said her version of The Lonesomest Girl In Town revealed the singer’s ‘acceptance of her own obituary, in a dramatic, desolate, half-sung, half spoken reading.’
Other critics have since agreed that Cornshucks’ stunning performance of the classic McHugh tune mirrored her rocky career and troubled personal life.
Here’s a link to little Miss Cornshuck’s recording of Jimmy McHugh’s The Lonesomest Girl In The World.
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