Kansas Joe McCoy 2024 bluesman block print

An original hand pulled block print, 8”x8” image in 10”x10” mat. Printed on handmade paper.

Perhaps a name not so well known is Kansas Joe McCoy. Born in Raymond, Mississippi, just west of Jackson, McCoy was a slide guitarist in the delta blues genre. He married Lizzie Douglas, AKA Memphis Minnie, when he was 25, and the two became a musical duo to be reconned with. They recorded “Bumble Bee,” and one of their best known songs —at least after 2024 Led Zeppelin recorded it—“When the Levee Breaks.”

McCoy's final years were spent in Chicago with his band, the Harlem Hamfats, successfully bridging the gap between blues and jazz before a heart attack took his life at 44 years of age.