Career
Born Mary Williams, in Yazoo City, Mississippi, United States, she ultimately recorded twenty two tracks between 1929 and 1936. These comprised eight songs in 1929, six in 1930, a couple more in 1932, four in 1934, and her final two recordings in 1936. Over that timespan her accompanists included Henry Brown, Judson Brown, Roosevelt Sykes, Peetie Wheatstraw, Ike Rodgers, Tampa Red, Artie Mosby, and Kokomo Arnold.
Prior to her recording career, Johnson relocated to Saint Louis, Missouri in 1915, where in her teenage years she worked with several of that time"s leading blues musicians.
Nevertheless, they had six children. Johnson worked in the Saint Louis area until the mid-1940s.
Her song, "Key To The Mountain Blues", was recorded in 1948 by Jesse Thomas (musician) as "Mountain Key Blues."
By the 1950s, Johnson had long since given up a music career, and concentrated on her religion and worked in a hospital. In 1960, Johnson was interviewed by Paul Oliver with extracts in his book, Conversation With The Blues.
Oliver stated "Living with her mother Emma Williams in an apartment on Biddle Street, Saint Louis, Johnson has known considerable poverty for many years."
Johnson died in 1970.
In 1995, her entire known recordings were released by Document Records on the compilation album, Complete Works in Chronological Order (1929-1936).
