Lee Morse was an American singer, songwriter, composer, and guitarist, who worked primarily in the genres of jazz and blues music in the 1920s and 1930s. She garnered significant fame in the mid-1920s, and became one of the most celebrated recording artists in the world. She was marketed as "America’s Leading Singer of Blues and Southern Mammy Songs."
Morse's discography includes over 60 singles of both self-composed and cover recordings, most of which were released by Perfect and Columbia Records in the 1920s. Morse continued to release singles with Columbia throughout the 1930s, as well as several releases for Decca Records. By the 1930s, however, Morse's professional career was in decline, as she struggled significantly with alcoholism. She frequently missed live engagements during this period, and her output of recorded material dwindled by the latter half of the decade.
Morse released two singles in 1950 through Decca, before dying unexpectedly in 1954. Several compilation albums chronicling her career have been released posthumously.
Singles 1920s Year Title Label Cat. # Notes 1924"Bring Back Those Rock-A-Bye Baby Days" / "Mail Man Blues" Perfect 12165 1925"Me Neenyah" / "Golden Dream Girl" Perfect 12182 1925 "I Like Pie, I Like Cake" / "Home" Perfect 12189 1925 "In Old Madrid" / "Juanita" Perfect 11216 1925 "A Miss in Mississippi" / "Don't Try to Cry Your Way Back to Me" Perfect 12197 1925"Are You Sorry" / "The Shadows On The Wall" Perfect 11581 As Miss Lee Morse and Her Bluegrass Boys 1925 "Too Tired" / "I Want To See My Tennessee" Perfect 12179 1925 "Yes Sir, That's My Baby" / "Ukulele Lady" Pathé10949 1925"Sweet Man" / "I'se Gwine Back To Dixie" Perfect 11591 As Miss Lee Morse and Her Bluegrass Boys 1925"Dallas Blues" / "Rocking Chair Blues " Perfect 11582 1925"Cecilia" / "Blue Soldier Blues" Perfect11586 1925"What-Cha-Call-'Em-Blues" / "Only This Time I'll Be True"Perfect11590 As Miss Lee Morse and Her Bluegrass Boys 1925"All Alone" / "Lee's Lullaby"Perfect12181 1926 "Lonesome and Sorry" / "A Little Love" Pathé 25184 As Miss Lee Morse and Her Bluegrass Boys 1926"My Old Kentucky Home" / "Old Folks At Home"Perfect11600 1926 "He's Still My Baby" / "Sad and Lonesome Little Pickaninny" Perfect 25194 1926 "Bolshevik"Perfect11273 1926 "To-Night You Belong to Me" / "If You're Missing Me"Perfect11631 1926 "I Wonder Where My Baby Is To-Night" / "My Sugar Babe"Perfect 11599 1926"Animal Crackers" / "My Red-Headed, Blue-Eyed Colleen" Perfect 11624 As Miss Lee Morse and Her Bluegrass Boys 1927 "The Little White House" / "Lonely Nights " Perfect 11635 As Miss Lee Morse and Her Bluegrass Boys 1927"Side By Side" / "My Idea Of Heaven" Columbia947-D 1927"We" / "Rosita"Columbia1082-D 1927"I've Looked All Over For A Girl Like You" / "Dawning"Columbia1149-D 1927 "Where the Wild Flowers Grow" / "I'd Love to Be in Love" Columbia 1011-D 1927 "Somebody Said" / "I Hate to Say Goodbye" Columbia1063-D 1927 "Did You Mean It?" / "Old-Fashioned Romance" Columbia1199-D 1928 "Keep Sweeping the Cobwebs off the Moon" / "Give Me a Good-Night Kiss" Columbia1276-D 1928"Poor Butterfly Waits For Me" / "After We Kiss"Columbia1328-D 1928 "In the Sing Song Sycamore Tree" / "I'm Lonely" Columbia1381-D 1928 "When I Lost You" / "Lonesome For You" Columbia 1434-D 1928 "Be Sweet to Me" / "Don't Keep Me in the Dark, Bright Eyes" Columbia 1466-D 1928 "Mother and Dad" / "Shadows on the Wall" Columbia1497-D 1928 "We (My Honey and Me)" / "Rosita" Columbia 1082-D 1928 "Mississippi Mud" / "I Must Have That Man!" Columbia1584-DWith the Blue Grass Boys 1928 "Let's Do It" / "If You Want the Rainbow" Columbia1659-D With the Blue Grass Boys 1928 "You Are My Own" / "Where the Shy Little Violets Grow" Columbia1716-D With the Blue Grass Boys 1928 "Main Street" / "Susianna" Columbia1752-D With the Blue Grass Boys 1929 "Old Man Sunshine, Little Boy Blue Bird" / "Don't Be Like That" Columbia1621-D With the Blue Grass Boys
1930s Year Title Label Cat. # Notes 1930 "Until Love Comes Along" / "Blue, Turning Grey Over You" Columbia 2101-D With the Blue Grass Boys 1930"Tain't No Sin (To dance around in your bones)"/ "I'm Following You "Columbia2136-DWith the Blue Grass Boys 1930 "Cooking Breakfast for the One I Love" / "Sing, You Sinners" Columbia 2165-D With the Blue Grass Boys 1930 "Swingin' in a Hammock" / "Seems to Me" Columbia 2225-D With the Blue Grass Boys 1930 "Little White Lies" / "Nobody Cares if I'm Blue" Columbia 2248-D With the Blue Grass Boys 1930 "Just a Little While" / "When the Organ Played at Twilight" Columbia 2308-D With the Blue Grass Boys 1930 "Wasting My Love on You" / "Loving You the Way I Do" Columbia 2333-D With the Blue Grass Boys 1930 "You're Driving Me Crazy!" / "He's My Secret Passion" Columbia 2348-D With the Blue Grass Boys 1930 "The Little Things in Life" / "Tears" Columbia 2365-D With the Blue Grass Boys 1931 "I'm One of God's Children (Who Hasn't Got Wings)" / "Blue Again" Columbia 2388-D With the Blue Grass Boys 1931 "Walkin' My Baby Back Home" / "I've Got Five Dollars" Columbia 2417-D With the Blue Grass Boys 1931 "The Tune That Never Grows Old" / "By My Side" Columbia 2436-D With the Blue Grass Boys 1931 "Let's Get Friendly" / "I'm Thru with Love" Columbia 2474-D With the Blue Grass Boys 1931 "It's the Girl!" / "I'm An Unemployed Sweetheart (Looking for Someone to Love)" Columbia 2497-D With the Blue Grass Boys 1931 "Love Letters in the Sand" / "Mood Indigo" Columbia 2530-D With the Blue Grass Boys 1931 "Call Me Darling (Call Me Sweetheart, Call Me Dear)" / "I'm For You a Hundred Percent" Columbia 2564-D With the Blue Grass Boys 1932"One Hour With You" / Medley - "Paradise" Waltz Columbia18001-DWith Eddy Duchin and His Central Park Casino Orchestra 1932"When the Lights Are Soft and Low" / "Lawd, You Made the Night Too Long"Columbia2650-D 1932"Moonlight on the River" / "Something in the Night"Columbia2705-D 1933"In the Little White Church on the Hill" / "The Rest of the World is Sleeping" Bluebird B-5044 1933"Pettin' in the Park" / "I've Got to Sing a Torch Song" BluebirdB-5052 1938 "When I Lost You" / "Shadows on the Wall" Decca 1919 1938 "Careless Love" / "Sing Me a Song Of Texas" Decca63364
1950s Year Title Label Cat. # Notes 1950 "Don't Even Change a Picture on a Wall" / "Longing" Decca 27163 With the Blue Grass Boys 1950 "Lonesome Darlin'" / "If Only You Knew" Decca 27066 With the Blue Grass Boys
Compilation albums Year Title Label Notes 1982 Lee Morse Revisited Take Two LP record 1990 Lee Morse (1925 - 1938): I'm a Real Kind Mama Harlequin CD 1998 A Musical Portrait Take Two 2-CD set 2005 Echoes of a Songbird: 50 Recordings from 1924-1930 Jasmine 2-CD set 2016 Sweeping the Cobwebs Asherah Records LP record 2020 Anthology: The Deluxe Collection Master Tape Records MP3 album
References
Sources
External links Lee Morse at Discogs Miss Lee Morse and Her Blue Grass Boys at Discogs Lee Morse (1897-1954) Red Hot Jazz Archive Lee Morse and her Bluegrass Boys Red Hot Jazz Archive