Gina Coleman

Uncrowned: A Tribute To Ida Cox

Guitar One Records

Ida Cox, the “Uncrowned Queen of the Blues,” was a 1920s powerhouse who defied the era’s norms. A prolific composer and savvy businesswoman, she wrote her own hits and recorded over 78 sides for Paramount Records, cementing her legacy as a foundational architect of the genre. The tribute is a soulful bridge across generations, pairing Ida’s pioneering lyrical artistry with Gina Coleman’s modern, unique musical interpretations.

Gina was born and raised in the South Bronx, New York. At the age of five, she was gifted a piano and lessons by her grandfather. She moved to Wellesley, Massachusetts, for high school, where she played a variety of musical instruments including the sousaphone and drums. She took a hiatus from music during her undergraduate years at Williams College in Williamstown. After graduation from college, she pursued a career as an educator in Lenox. On one fateful night, her co-workers took her out on the town to a small club in Pittsfield called La Cocina. It was open mic night, and after several rounds of tequila, Gina accepted the challenge to get up and sing. The only song she could remember the lyrics to was “Mercedes Benz,” and to the surprise of everyone, she brought the house to their feet and won $75 in the night’s competition. In the summer of 1999, Gina performed in the Williamstown Theatre Festival production of A Raisin in the Sun, appearing beside Viola Davis and Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Gina was cast as a gospel blues singer and was encouraged by Hudson to pursue that as a career. Twenty-five years later, Gina is more widely known as the lead singer, founder, and songwriter of the 2019 International Blues Challenge band finalist Misty Blues, having recorded 18 albums with tracks featuring artists like Charles Neville, Eric Gales, Joe Louis Walker, and Kat Riggins. They have toured the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom and were bestowed the honor of being the 2021 CFAB Music Realm Entertainer of the Year. In 2024, they had the additional honor of having a song they released used in a presidential campaign ad. Gina’s first solo album, “Unequivocally Blue,” was released in 2025. This tribute is her second solo effort.

Vocalist Gina Coleman is accompanied by guitarists Seth Fleischmann and Gaye Adegbalola; clarinetist Aaron Dean; banjoist Jeff Dudziak; keyboardist David Vittone; bassist Diego Mongue; drummer Bob Tatten; and percussionist Ronan Chris Murphy. The album was produced by Mongue at the Playing Field Studio in Williamstown. It is co-produced by Gina Coleman and Ronan Chris Murphy.

The album opens with “Graveyard Dream Blues,” with a moody bass from Mongue and some great guitar from Fleischmann, as Gina sings “Blues on my mind, blues all around my bed, I had a dream last night, the man I love was dead. I went to the graveyard, fell down on my knees, I asked the gravedigger to give back my man, please. The gravedigger looked me in my eye, said ‘I’m sorry for you lady, your man said his last goodbye’…when I woke up it was only a dream.”

On “Mail Man Blues,” Gina chimes “Watching and awaiting to hear a bit of news, sighing and cryin’ with these old mail man blues. Did you ever dream you’re lucky, wake up cold in hand, did you ever not have a dollar to meet the house rent man. Run to the Western Union to send a telegram, try to get a favor from your one-time man in ‘Bam, but pals are so deceivin, the friendship is a joke. They are with you when your prosperous you can’t find them when your broke,” with a guitar solo from Fleischmann and a bass solo from Mongue.

“One Hour Mama” features Gina as she chants “I’ve always heard that haste makes waste, so I believe in takin’ my time. The highest mountain can’t be raced. It’s something you must slowly climb, I want a slow and easy man. He needn’t ever take the lead, ’cause I work on that long-time plan. And I ain’t a-lookin’ for speed, I’m a one hour mama so no one minute papa, that ain’t the kind of man for me.”

On “Worried Mama Blues,” Gina moans “Early this morning, blues knocked on my door, said ‘I’m here to stay and I ain’t going to leave no more’. The blues and trouble are my best friends, when the blues leave me, That’s when my troubles begin…you jealous gals better, keep you man at home, I stole my man from my best friend, but she got lucky and stole him back again.”

On “Wild Women Don’t Have The Blues,” Gina belts “I hear these woman raving, ’bout their monkey men, about their trifling husbands and their no good friends, these poor women sit around all day and moan, wondering why their wandering papa’s don’t come home, but wild women don’t worry, wild women don’t have no blues,” with clarinet from Aaron Dean.

“Bama Bound Blues” features Gina as she groans “Mister engineer, please turn your train around, I believe to my soul, my man is ‘Bama bound. Take me back daddy, try me one more time, and if I don’t please you, break my neck for tryin’…My mama told me, my papa told me too, some brown-skin man is gonna be the death of you,” with more clarinet from Dean.

On “You Got To Swing And Sway,” Gina bursts “You got to swing with all your might, you got to swing and sway, you gotta act just like a clown, Your a cutter you have to cut the slice, you got to swing and sway, with all your might, your a cutter you gotta swing that thing.”

“Fore Day Creep” features Gina as she wails “When you lose your money, don’t lose your mind, when you lose your good man, please don’t mess with mine. I’m gonna buy me a bulldog to watch my man while he sleeps. Men are so doggone crooked, I’m afraid he might make a fore day creep. I’m gonna tell you baby, anytime I shake it a skinny girl got to lose.”

On “Hard Times Blues,” Gina howls “I never seen such a real hard time before. The wolf keeps a walkin ’round my door. They howl all night and they moan ’til the break of day. They seem to know why good man’s gone away. I can’t go outside to my grocery store. I ain’t got no money and my credit don’t go no more,” with Gaye Adegbalola on guitar.

“Lawdy Lawdy Blues” features Gina as she shouts “Tell me pretty daddy, what’s the matter now? Are you tryin to quit me baby, and you don’t know how? I’d rather be dead, buried in the sea. Then hear the man I love say he don’t want me.”

On the closer, “Blues Ain’t Nothing Else But,” Gina croons “Oh, the blues ain’t nothin but your lover on your mind, the man that keeps you worried and always cryin’. Oh, the blues ain’t nothin but a good woman wanting to see her man. She can’t get when she want him, gotta catch him when she can,” with more clarinet from Dean.

This tribute is the first full-length album dedicated entirely to Ida’s catalog. Special thanks goes to Gina Coleman for bringing this tribute to Ida Cox to fruition.

Richard Ludmerer

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