DESCRIPTION:
Jessie Mae Hemphill, the "She-Wolf" performs with Dr. David Evans on guitar and an unidentified drummer. She spent her life mostly between the area around her birthplace of Como, Mississippi and nearby Memphis. She started music as a drummer in a fife-and-drum band led by her grandfather Sid Hemphill, She played guitar and sang for many years but was unknown outside the Memphis/North Mississippi area until recordings were released by Evans' High Water label around 1980. She had played to audiences in many foreign countries, had received W.C. Handy awards as best traditional female blues artist, and had even appeared on the T.V.'s "Mr. Rogers Show" by the time of this performance at the Overton Park Shell in the late '80s.
The historic Memphis amphitheater was fully renovated in 2008 thanks to a generous grant from the Mortimer Levitt Foundation and the renamed Levitt Shell now sponsors 50 free concerts every year devoted to developing community through the performing arts.