Viola Bartlette was an American blues singer[1] and actress,[2] who recorded on Black Swan Records and Paramount Records. She was from Baltimore.[3] Bartlette recorded under the pseudonym Ida Lewis for Silvertone Records.[4]
She often was a backup singer for Lovie Austin[5] and accompanied Lovie Austin's Blue Serenaders band and Blythe's Sinful Five on records.[6] Johnny Dodds accompanied Bartlette on recordings made in the 1920s. Clarinetist Jimmy O'Bryant backed her on session recordings during 1923 to 1926. She also recorded with Kid Ory.[1]
Discography
- "Tennessee Blues" (1925)[7]
- "Go Back Where You Stayed Last Night" (1925) by Lovie Austin's Blue Serenaders[6][8]
- "Walk Easy 'Cause My Papa's Here" (1926), by Viola Bartlette with Cobb's Paramount Syncopators, Paramount[9]
- "Shake That Thing" (1926) written by Papa Charlie Jackson[8][10]
- "Anna Mina Forty And St. Louis Shorty" (1926) by Jimmy Blythe / Blythe's Sinful Five[6]
- "Quit Knocking on My Door" (1926) by Blythe's Sinful Five[6]
- "Sunday Morning Blues" (1926)[9]
- "You Don't Mean Me No Good" (1926)[9]
- "Out Bound Train Blues" (1926)[9]
- "You Can Never Tell When Your Perfectly Good Man Will Do" (1926) by Viola Bartlette with Punch Miller[11]