Willie Ford

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Willie Mae Ford (June 23, 1904 – February 2, 1994), also known as Mother Willie Mae Ford Smith, was an American gospel singer. Biography[edit] Early years[edit] Born in Rolling Fork, Mississippi on 23 June 1904, she moved to Memphis, Tennessee as a child. She moved to St. Louis, Missouri at the age of 12. Raised in the Baptist church, she began singing with her sisters, Mary, Geneva, Lucille, and Emma, in a family group known as "The Ford Sisters". The group, and Willie Mae in particular, achieved wider fame after an appearance at the 1922 National Baptist Convention. Musical career[edit] Based in St. Louis, Missouri, she was one of the early associates of Thomas A. Dorsey and an innovator in gospel style, introducing the "song and sermonette" style that other singers, such as Shirley Caesar and Edna Gallmon Cooke, made popular. She married James Peter Smith in 1927 and, shortly after that, began traveling in musical revivals. Dorsey heard her in 1931 and asked to help him found the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses, his organization devoted to spreading gospel music by training singers, choirs and composers. Smith became the principal singing teacher for the NCGCC as head of its Soloists' Bureau in 1936. Among her students were Brother Joe May, who gave her the affectionate name "Mother". Teaming with Roberta Martin, Smith demonstrated how to make even familiar hymns such as "Jesus Loves Me" into deeper personal statements by slurs, note bending and other p

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albums

Deep River of Song: Mississippi - The Blues Lineage

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100 Early Blues Recordings

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Deep River of Song - Mississippi: The Blues Lineage (Musical Geniuses of the Fields, Levees and Jukes)

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Blues Songbook - Alan Lomax - [Disc 1]

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Deep River Of Songs: Mississippi - Saints & Sinners

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Blues Songbook - Alan Lomax - Disc 1

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Mississippi Blues, Library Of Congress Recordings 1940-1942

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Mississippi Blues & Gospel 1934 - 1942

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Blues & Gospel: Miss. Field Recordings 1934

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Deep River of Song Mississippi

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Delta Blues 1940-1951

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Vintage Blues & Gospel Recordings

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