In her autobiography Peggy Lee says she went to Rush Street to hear Laura Ricker and Bobby Dodds, "two of the truly old-time greats." Does anyone know where I could find recordings of these two? Does anyone know more about them?
A quick check of the NYTimes and Chicago Tribune archives only turns up a football player by the name of Bobby Dodd/Dodds. No hits for Laura Ricker. Nothing in Billboard archive (via Google Books) or Media History Digital Library.
Okay, thanks to the Peggy Lee discography (d'oh!) we find Laura Rucker and Baby Dodds are the actual names involved. Still nothing on Rucker at Tribune, NYTimes has a mention by Peggy in 1981 but Dodds gets loads of mentions in the Tribune. You should be able to find some things with the proper names. Hope that helps.