Kate McTell
| Kate McTell | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Ruthy Kate Williams |
| Also known as | Ruby Glaze |
| Born |
August 22, 1911 Savannah, Georgia, United States |
| Origin | Atlanta, Georgia, United States |
| Died | October 3, 1991 (aged 80) Augusta, Georgia, United States |
| Genres | Blues, gospel |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, nurse |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1932–1940 |
| Labels | Decca, Vocalion |
| Associated acts | Blind Willie McTell |
Kate McTell (born Ruthy Kate Williams; August 22, 1911 – October 3, 1991) was an American blues musician and nurse from Jefferson County, Georgia. She is known primarily as the former wife of the blues musician Blind Willie McTell, whom she accompanied vocally on several recordings. She may have recorded as Ruby Glaze, but there is some uncertainty about whether she and Glaze were the same person, despite the fact that she claimed to be Glaze.
Ruthy (later changed to Ruth) Kate Williams was born in Savannah, Georgia. She was singing for a high-school ceremony in Augusta, Georgia, in 1933 when she was noticed by McTell, who regularly performed in the area. In an interview conducted by the musicologist David Evans and his family, she stated that she and Willie met at a Christmas concert at her school in 1931. She went on to explain that Willie invited her to record with him, that they did so in Atlanta over the course of a week, and that she then returned to Augusta to continue her schooling at Paine College. According to Michael Gray, that week of recording would have been in February 1932. The McTells were married on January 11, 1934. For the next six years she often accompanied Willie on stage, singing or dancing, in performances in Chicago, Atlanta and elsewhere, and in the company of artists such as Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith. The two were invited to record for Decca Records by executive Mayo Williams in 1935, but the recordings from these sessions had extremely limited releases. In late June 1936, they recorded 12 blues songs with Piano Red for Vocalion Records.
In 1939, she obtained a nursing certificate from Grady Hospital in Atlanta, and from 1942 until 1971 she was an army nurse at Fort Gordon hospital, near Augusta. As Willie lived in Atlanta for his career, the two rarely saw each other and drifted apart. Much of what is known about her husband comes from the interview she gave with the Evans family, published in Blues Unlimited magazine in 1977.
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