Little Miss Cornshucks

May 07, 2023

This week on Echoes of Indiana Avenue we’ll celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Little Miss Cornshucks – a pioneer of rhythm and blues music. She was born Mildred Cummings in Dayton, Ohio in May of 1923, and died in Indianapolis in November of 1999.

Little Miss Cornshucks played some of her first, and last gigs in Indianapolis – including an early appearance on Indiana Avenue in 1945. She influenced artists like Aretha Franklin, Ruth Brown, and Lavern Baker, and Atlantic Records’ founder Ahmet Ertegun, called her the greatest blues singer he ever heard.