The late blues singer Bessie Smith began performing professionally in 1912 and by the 1920s was a headliner on the Theatre Owners Booking Association circuit, which was the vaudeville circuit for African Americans. She recorded with Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden and Benny Goodman. This one-woman theatrical performance by Doris Fields (aka “Lady D”) will give the audience a glimpse of what our country was like during the 20’s and 30’s. Performed with only one back up musician, it allows attendees to experience this country’s first purely American musical art form, the Blues. “Lady D” is known as “West Virginia’s First Lady of Soul.” She is an R&B, soul, and blues musician and songwriter living in Beckley. Fields is the founder and organizer of West Virginia’s Simply Jazz and Blues Festival and previously hosted the weekly Simply Jazz and Blues radio show on Groovy94 in Beckley. In 2008, her original song “Go Higher” won an online contest sponsored by the Obama Music Arts and Entertainment Group. She performed the song as a headliner at the Obama for Change Inauguration Ball with President Obama and the First Lady Michelle Obama in attendance. All Ages.