Cousin Emmy

Aliases: Cousin Emmy and Her Kinfolk
Joy May Creasy
Joy White [US 2]
Mae Creasy
Real name: Cynthia May Carver
Born: March 14, 1903
Died: April 11, 1980
Country: United States
IPI: 00167043771 1 work
Comments: Cousin Emmy was a country music performer from Kentucky. A multi-talented musician, she played banjo, guitar, fiddle, ukelele, harmonica, piano and even a musical saw and a rubber glove. She sang, did comedy, and she appeared on radio and in films. She was a major influence on Grandpa Jones with whom she worked at radio station WWVA in the 1930s and where she taught him how to play the banjo. In 1937 she formed her own traveling variety show troupe, "Cousin Emmy and Her Kinfolks." They toured and appeared regularly on radio during the 1930s and 1940s. They were so popular that for fours years they had their own daily show on KMOX, a 50,000 watt station based in St. Louis, Missouri. Although she continued to perform on stage, radio, television and in films during the 1950s, her career peaked in the 1940s. However, there was renewed interest in her when she was "rediscovered" by the New Lost City Ramblers in the 1960s.
She was married to Johnny (Alfred) Creasy and sometimes referred to as Mae Creasy or Joy May Creasy. She first performed under the pseudonym "Joy White" in the 1920s-1930s.