As World War I came to an end, the blues was taking over the country, especially after the release of the first known blues recording, by a black artist named Mamie Smith. The record sold thousands of copies and companies sprang up practically overnight to exploit the new phenomenon of "race records." But while other blues singers quickly signed to recording contracts, Ma Rainey had to wait until 1923 before for a talent scout called Paramount Records signed her. Part of the reason for Ma's late entry into the recording business was that her older more Southern style of "Classic Blues" was already being eclipsed by a more sophisticated form developed in Northern urban centers like Chicago and New York. Another reason was that Ma Rainey, who continued to tour rural areas of the Deep South well into the 1920s, never had a Northern white promoter, and never developed the wealthier, more urban following that launched the careers of other music acts. Lastly, Paramount was chronically on the verge of bankruptcy throughout the 1920s and was unable to take advantage of technical advances in studio recording. Rainey was singing into an old-fashioned horn and recording on a wax cylinder long after everyone else was using microphones and metal master discs, making her records sound noticeably inferior to those of her peers.
Nevertheless, Ma Rainey's first release for Paramount Records was hit "Moonshine Blues," she then followed it up the hits "Bad Luck Blues," "Bo-Weavil Blues," and "Those All Night Long Blues." Rainey may not have been the first blues recording artist, but she was one of the most prolific. She went on to record about 100 blues tracks over the next five years, expanded her audience beyond the Southern minstrel circuit to larger cities and more opulent settings. Paramount launched an aggressive advertising campaign for her first record, under the headline "Discovered at Last! Ma Rainey, Mother of the Blues!".