Sara Martin - Biography
By J Poet
Blues singer Sara Martin was one of the most successful artists of her time, known for her dramatic singing style. She recorded for less than ten years before retiring, but in that time Martin made the first blues record to feature guitar, with Sylvester Weaver on guitar in 1923, and the first jug band record, “Blue Devil Blues” with the Clifford Hayes Jug band, although when it appeared on the Okeh label in 1924 it was credited to Sara Martin’s Jug Band. Martin was also a songwriter and made risqué records like “Mean Tight Mama.”
Sara Martin was born and raised in Louisville, a town that had a thriving African American cultural scene home of many famous string bands and jug bands. Little is known of her early life, but by 1915 she was a star on the African-American vaudeville circuit. She had a big, booming voice, and was often compared to Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey, although her theatrical style wasn’t exactly bluesy; she was often called "the colored Sophie Tucker." Martin played clubs, theaters and concert halls allover the western states and the east coast. In she was signed by Okeh Records in 1922 and recorded "T'aint Nobody's Bizness If I Do" with Fats Waller on piano that same year. She made “Laughin’ Cryin’ Blues” with the W. C. Handy Orchestra in 1923, and toured with the band, and recorded with Richard M. Jones and the Jazz Wizards and Clarence Williams’ Blues Five. Selections from her Okeh catalogue can be found on The Famous Moanin' Mama: 1922-1927 (2001 Challenge Holland.) Martin also had parts in two films: Hello, Bill with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson in 1929 and Darktown Revue the first African-American talkie in 1930.
In 1928, she stopped recording and soon after stopped performing. She continued to sing gospel music at her church in Louisville and ran a nursing home until her death in 1955. She also made records as Margaret Johnson and Sally Roberts. England’s Document logo released all of Martin’s work on four CDs: Sara Martin: Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 1: 1922-1923 (1996 Document UK), Sara Martin: Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 2: 1923-1924 (1996 Document UK), Sara Martin: Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 3: 1924-1925 (1996 Document UK), Sara Martin: Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 4: 1925-1928 (1996 Document UK.)
