Comment by cyeaman SUBS:
Published in 1914, St. Louis Blues was recorded at least 165 times between 1916 - 1942. This version by Prince's Band was the first, but which was "the best"? Bessie Smith's 1925 rendition is legendary, and was a watershed event in the life of this tune. Although the song had been recorded just over a dozen times during the first decade since its publication, fourteen new versions appeared in 1926 alone, and between six and fourteen new renditions would be recorded each year until the early 1940s, with the exception of the early Depression years of 1930-33. 1935 was a banner year, in which 20 new recordings of St. Louis Blues were issued.