All-Girl Bands of the 30s

LIL ARMSTRONG ALL-GIRL BAND

VI BURNSIDE COMBO
Pauline Brady on drums, Flo Dryer on trumpet, Vi Burnside on tenor saxophone, Edna Smith on base and Shirley Moore on piano.

CLARA DE VRIES AND HER JAZZLADIES

In the early 1930s, Clara had been a saxophonist with Leo Selinsky's Blue Jazz Ladies. In 1935, Clara formed Clara de Vries and Her Jazzladies. In 1935 she formed Clara de Vries and Her Jazzladies.

Clara De Vries and Her Jazzladies

DIXIE RHYTHM GIRLS

DIXIE SWEETHEARTS

PEGGY GILBERT ALL-GIRL ORCHESTRA
Margaret Fern Knechteges was born in 1905. By the age of 7 she was touring with dance troupes and performing with her father's groups on the piano and violin. Known for her tremendous skill as a saxophone player, Peggy not only led but performed with her first all-girl band The Melody Girls and received rave reviews and were broadcast nightly over a local radio station in Sioux City. During WWII she toured Alaska in an all-female show. After the war, as the men came home and took up their previous occupations, girl bands faded in popularity.

Peggy Gilbert All-Girl Orchestra

Millie & Dolly

MILLIE & DOLLY GOOD
All-female bands weren't limited to the jazz genre. While they aren't what most people think of as a "band", The Girls of the Golden West were two of few female country artists of their time. When they first started out, it was suggested they were born and raised in Muleshoe, TX, but they were actually from Illinois. They started recording for Bluebird Records as early as the 1930s. Throughout the 30s and 40s the girls made hundreds of personal appearances at state fairs and radio stations throughout the south, where they would sing and yodel. Although they stopped performing in the late 40s, their influence lived on with future singers they inspired, like Kitty Wells and Patsy Cline.



HARLEM PLAYGIRLS

THE KOHALA GIRLS
The Kohala Girls was a female band that played steel guitars. The band was created by Letritia Kandle in Chicago in 1932. Letritia learned Hawaiian guitar when it was fashionable in the 30s. In 1937, agw used the first guitar amplifier, the "Grand Letar".

Lil Hardin

LIL HARDIN'S ALL-GIRL BAND

Lillian Harden was born in Memphis, TN in 1898. She played several jazz groups in New Orleans and Chicago before joining King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band in the 1920s. In 1924 she married King Oliver's second coronetist, Louis Armstrong but divorced him in 1931 after learning of an extramarital affair. In the 1930s, she formed Lil Hardin's All-Girl Band and performed regularly on the NBC radio network. From the 1940s on, she worked primarily as a solo pianist.

INA RAY HUTTON'S MELODEARS (The "Blonde Bombshell")

Odessa "Ina" Cowan was born in 1916. When she was a child, the US Census listed her family as "Negro" and "Mulatto", though it appeared she chose to "pass" throughout her career. At 18 she was named bandleader of the newly-formed Melodears, set up by Irving Mills and Alex Hyde. Although she was called the "bandleader", this was just a front. For five years, she managed and toured with them, dishing out hot jazz and flashy performances, changing her skimpy gowns multiple times during each show (with reportedly 400 gowns to choose from) and tap dancing and flirting with the audience. The Melodears was one of the first all-girl bands to be filmed and recorded, including a gig in The Big Broadcast of 1936. 

Click here to listen to Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears

It wasn't until later on in her career, around the time she dropped the all-girl band and started her all-male orchestra, that she had become trained in music enough to feel confident in leading her band. Ina drew even greater success with her all-male orchestra, although later down the line when the opportunity arose to have her own television show, she seized the chance to revive the all-girl band, once again. In the 1950s, all-girl bands still held on to some popularity and Ina joined the television age with her Emmy-award winning five year sting on The Ina Ray Hutton Show.

THE COON CREEK GIRLS

Lily May Ledford, Rosie Ledford, Esther Koehler, Evelyn Lange and Minnie Ledford of Cincinnati, OH formed The Coon Creek Girls, an all-female, hillbilly string band.

The Coon Creek Girls