Hilary Thavis & Butch Thompson - Kissing in the Dark

Hilary Thavis and Butch Thompson perform this 1953 recording by Memphis Minnie ( Lizzie Douglas), Kissing in the Dark. This song was the last one that Memphis Minnie recorded. Born in 1897 in Algiers, Louisiana, Lizzie's parents called her 'Kid", since she didn't like the name Lizzie. In 1910, at age 13, she ran away from home, to live on Beale Street, in Memphis Tennessee. She did a 4 year stint with the Ringling Bros Circus, 1916-1920. In 1929, she and Kansas Joe McCoy, her second husband, began to perform in New York. A Columbia Records A & R man gave them the names Kansas Joe and Memphis Minnie. The song is performed here by Hilary Thavis and Butch Thompson at Saint Paul College. Saint Paul, Minnesota. November 4th, 2015.

Added 20 May 2026