Ma Rainey. Gertrude Pridgett Rainey. The Mother of the Blues. She was singing the blues in tent shows across the South before the word 'blues' was on a record label. Gold teeth. An ostrich-plume fan. A diamond tiara. A stage presence so commanding that when she walked out, the audience forgot there'd been anyone before her.

She mentored Bessie Smith -- taught her stagecraft, took her on the road -- and then stepped aside when Bessie became the bigger star. Ma kept recording, kept touring, kept being exactly who she was: a Black woman who refused to be anything less than spectacular.

She bridged vaudeville and the blues, the tent show and the recording studio, the 19th century and the 20th. Her recordings with Louis Armstrong and her Georgia Jazz Band capture a voice that could purr and growl and command. Ma Rainey wasn't just the first great blues singer. She was the first great blues entertainer -- a woman who understood that the performance was as important as the song.

Ma Rainey was singing the blues before anyone knew what to call that sound. She mentored Bessie Smith, bridged vaudeville and the recording industry, and never apologized for being exactly who she was. The Mother of the Blues earned the title one tent show at a time.