Geeshie Wiley

In April 1930, Thomas also recorded two songs, "Motherless Child Blues" and "Over to My House," with Wiley playing guitar and singing harmony. Steve Leggett at Allmusic states, "Wiley's vocal on 'Last Kind Word Blues' is by turns weary, wise, angry, defiant, despairing, even wistful, and is simply one of the best performances in early country blues." ==Biographical uncertainties==

Little is known about Wiley, and the few details of her life provided by various sources are inconsistent. "Geeshie" (sometimes spelled "Geechie" or "Geetchie") was probably a nickname. There have been several conjectures about her life. The musician Ishmon Bracey, a contemporary of Wiley's, stated that she came from Natchez, Mississippi, and was romantically linked with the Delta blues musician Papa Charlie McCoy. It has also been suggested that in the 1920s she worked in a medicine show in Jackson, Mississippi, and that she may have married Casey Bill Weldon after his divorce from Memphis Minnie. Research by Robert "Mack" McCormick was developed and publicized by John Jeremiah Sullivan in The New York Times in 2014. Sullivan also spoke to a Houston musician, John D. "Don" Wilkerson, who claimed to remember Wiley and "implied that there was something funny about her background. He said that she'd been 'maybe Mexican or something.'” According to researcher Caitlin Love, who worked with Sullivan, Lillie Mae Wiley ( Boone) died from a head injury in 1950, and was buried with her mother Cathrine Nixson in Brushy Cemetery in Burleson County, Texas. ==Legacy==

"Last Kind Words", "Motherless Child Blues", "Skinny Legs Blues", and "Pick Poor Robin Clean" are included on the compilation album Mississippi Masters: Early American Blues Classics 1927–35 (Yazoo Records, 2007). Johansen also sang a portion of "Last Kind Words" in the movie Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus (2003). • C. W. Stoneking included a faithful cover of the song on his 2006 album Mississippi & Piedmont Blues 1927–1941. • Dex Romweber Duo released a version featuring Jack White, on White's vinyl-only label, Third Man Records. • Ransom Riggs used the song in his video "Talking Pictures", in which he talks about vintage photographs. • Rhiannon Giddens, of the traditional black music group Carolina Chocolate Drops, sang the song on her solo debut album, Tomorrow Is My Turn. • The Kronos Quartet performed an arrangement of the song at their fortieth anniversary concert, broadcast in 2013. • "Last Kind Words Blues" appeared on the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss album Raise the Roof, released in November 2021. "Pick Poor Robin Clean" is performed in the film Sinners, directed by Ryan Coogler. Geeshie Wiley's original version of "Pick Poor Robin Clean" and its cover for the film are featured on the Sinners original motion picture soundtrack. ==Discography==