Memphis Minnie: the forgotten blues pioneer behind Led Zeppelin’s ‘When the Levee Breaks’

Led Zeppelin’s 1971 version of ‘When the Levee Breaks’ drew on a song written and first recorded by blues musicians Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy in 1929. The article argues that the band’s adaptation matters because it transformed the original into a distinctive rock recording while recognising its roots in Black American blues.

Memphis Minnie, born Lizzie Douglas, co-wrote the song after surviving the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, which forced her to leave her home in Walls, Mississippi. She recorded it with McCoy two years later, playing the more intricate guitar parts; she later built a successful solo career in Chicago, became an early blues electrification pioneer and earned respect as a formidable guitarist.