‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,’ about Alabama blues legend, now on Netflix
Updated Dec 18, 2020;
You can finally stream “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” the long overdue film about blues legend from Alabama, with one of the world’s greatest actresses bringing her back to life on Netflix.
The streamer’s plot description: “Chicago, 1927. A recording session. Tensions rise between Ma Rainey (Viola Davis), her ambitious horn player (Chadwick Boseman), and the white management determined to control the legendary “Mother of the Blues.” Based on Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson’s play.”
It centers on the fateful recording session in 1927 Chicago and looks to go all out in its production design of the period. Rainey was one of the earliest Black professional blues singers and one of the first ever to record music. While she grew up in Columbus, Ga., the 1900 census indicates she was born in September 1882 in Alabama, and other research shows her birthplace as Russell County. Rainey was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.