Coot Grant (June 17, 1893 unknown) was an
American classic female blues, country blues, and vaudeville, singer and
songwriter. Her own stage craft, plus the double act with her husband and
musical partner, Wesley "Kid" Wilson, was popular with African American
audiences in the 1910s, 1920s and early 1930s.
One of fifteen offspring, she was born Leola B. Pettigrew in Birmingham,
Alabama, United States. The first part of her eventual stage name came from
a derivation of her childhood nickname, 'Cutie'. She began work in 1900 in
Atlanta, Georgia, appearing in vaudeville, and the following year toured
South Africa and across Europe with Mayme Remington's Pickaninnies. She was
sometimes billed as Patsy Hunter. In 1913, she married the singer, Isiah I.
Grant, and they worked on stage together before his death in 1920. She
married Wesley Wilson the same year, but he surpassed her on stage names
being later variously billed as Catjuice Charlie (in a brief duo with
Pigmeat Pete), Kid Wilson, Jenkins, Socks, and Sox Wilson. He played both
piano and organ, whilst Coot Grant strummed guitar as well as sing and
dance.
The duo's billing also varied between Grant and Wilson, Kid and Coot, and
Hunter and Jenkins, as they went on to appear and later record with Fletcher
Henderson, Mezz Mezzrow, Sidney Bechet, and Louis Armstrong. Their variety
was such that they performed separately and together in vaudeville, musical
comedies, revues and traveling shows. This ability to adapt also saw them
appear in the 1933 film, The Emperor Jones, alongside Paul Robeson.
In addition to this, the twosome wrote in excess of 400 songs over their
working lifetime. That list included "Gimme a Pigfoot (And a Bottle of
Beer)" (1933) and "Take Me for a Buggy Ride", which were both made famous by
Bessie Smith's recording of the songs, plus "Find Me at the Greasy Spoon"
and "Prince of Wails" for Fletcher Henderson. Their own renditions included
the diverse, "Come on Coot, Do That Thing" (1925), "Dem Socks Dat My Pappy
Wore," and "Throat Cutting Blues" (although the latter remains unreleased)."
In 1926, Grant joined up with Blind Blake, and recorded a selection of
country blues renditions. These were Blake's debut recordings. Although
Grant and Wilson's act, once seen as a serious rival to Butterbeans and
Susie, began to lose favor with the public by the middle of the 1930s, they
recorded further songs in 1938. Their only child, Bobby Wilson, was born in
1941. By 1946, and after Mezz Mezzrow had founded his King Jazz record
label, he engaged them as songwriters. In that year, the association led to
their final recording session backed by a quintet incorporating Bechet and
Mezzrow.
Wilson retired in ill health shortly thereafter, but Grant continued
performing into the 1950s. In January 1953, one commentator noted that the
couple had moved from New York to Los Angeles, but were in considerable
financial hardship. Grant's popularity waned to such an extent that no
official details have been uncovered concerning her death.
Her entire recorded work, both with and without Wilson, was made available
in three chronological volumes in 1998 by Document Records.
