The early blues women of Naptown

March 23, 2025

Celebrate Women’s History Month with music featuring the early blues women of Naptown. During the 1920s and ‘30s, Indiana Avenue was a Mecca for blues music, thanks in part, to the legendary Indianapolis blues duo of Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell. Women also played a large role in the early Naptown blues scene, including Alura Mack, Bessie Brown, Laura Smith, and Nina Reeves, her 1923 single “Indiana Avenue Blues” was among the first wave of blues records released.