Reading Eagle

Blues musician Apicella lives to make Ma Rainey proud

Blues musician Charlie Apicella’s formula for success is simple: He awakens every day creating music to make Ma Rainey proud. Apicella never met Rainey, who died in 1939, but he said it is impossible ...

Ma Rainey Is Best Known as a Pioneer of the Blues. But She Broke More Than Musical Barriers

Ma Rainey and her band the Rabbit Foot Minstrels circa 1924 in Chicago, Illinois. Ma Rainey and her band the Rabbit Foot Minstrels circa 1924 in Chicago, Illinois.Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/ ...
Post and Courier

ARTS AND HUMANITIES: Columbus, Georgia salutes Ma Rainey

Streaming on Netflix is a 2020 motion picture based on the 1982 play by August Wilson titled “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” Starring Academy Award-winning actress Viola Davis as the “Mother of the Blues, ...