Antonia Eliason on Lillian McMurry and the Blues Contracts of Trumpet Records

In this episode, Antonia Eliason, Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Mississippi School of Law, discusses her fascinating article "Lillian McMurry and the Blues Contracts of Trumpet Records," which uses primary source archival research to tell a serious of important stories about the social history of the Mississippi blues through the contractual and personal relationships between the musicians and their publisher. Trumpet Records was one of the most important and idiosyncratic Mississippi record labels of the early 1950s, releasing 78s recorded by iconic artists like Elmore James and Sonny Boy Williamson. Founded and operated by Lillian McMurray, it only operated from 1951-55, but had an enormous impact on the dissemination of the Mississippi blues. Eliason uses the business record and manuscripts from the Trumpet Records archival collection to tell the story of the label, and the complicated relationships between McMurray and the musicians whose work she published.

Keywords: blues, music, contracts, contract law, sonny boy williamson, lillian mcmurry, trumpet records, copyright, mississippi, contracts

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