The Diamond Teeth Mary Blues Festival celebrated its 16th year, honoring the legacy of the late blues singer Diamond Teeth Mary Smith McClain. Since 2009, the festival has been a vibrant part of Huntington's cultural scene, bringing an evening of blues music and community to the heart of the city. The free event, open to the public usually takes place on the Saturday before Mary's birthday.

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West Virginia native “Diamond Teeth” Mary Smith McClain was a blues and gospel singer as well as a vaudeville entertainer. Her career spanned 85 years, from 1915-2000.

Born in Huntington, WV in 1902, Mary was the half-sister of famed blues singer Bessie Smith. To escape an abusive household, Mary hopped a train at modern-day Heritage Station when she was just 13 years old. To be permitted to travel by herself, she had to disguise herself as a boy.

She found work as a chorus girl in various circuses and minstrel shows throughout the south and midwest with troupes such as Irvin C. Miller’s Brown Skin Models, the Davis S. Bell Medicine Show, and F.S. Wolcott’s Rabbit Foot Minstrels. She was quickly nicknamed “Walking Mary” for her habit of walking out on unscrupulous promoters.

In the 1940s, Mary had diamonds from a bracelet set in her front teeth, creating a dazzling stage effect and giving her a new nickname: “Diamond Teeth Mary.”

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