Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, San Francisco, 1968
“Willie Mae ‘Big Mama’ Thornton sang at the Newport Folk Festival, one of our stops on our 1969 Festival tour. Janis (Joplin) always gave credit to Big Mama, explained how she had been hugely inspired by her, that she listened a lot to Big Mama’s music. Big Mama’s song ‘Ball And Chain’ became a Janis classic.”
Incidentally, Big Mama was also the first to make a hit of “Hound Dog.”