When the Leavee Breaks- Kansas Joe & Memphis Minnie (Columbia, 1929)
Millions of listeners heard “When the Levee Breaks” when Led Zeppelin recorded it in 1971, inspiring some to search for the original version recorded for Columbia and available at the time on a Memphis Minnie reissue album on Chris Strachwitz’s Blues Classics label. The singer on the record was actually Joe McCoy, aka Kansas Joe, who joined Minnie in the record’s splendid two-guitar interplay. The June 18,1929 session in New York City was the first for the couple, who would marry in 1930. The song was inspired by the devastating Mississippi River flood of 1927, when the levee near Minnie’s hometown of Walls, Mississippi, did indeed break. It was not so topical by 1929, however, and Columbia chose to promote the flip side, “That Will Be Alright,” in its advertising.