One of Thornton's last albums was "Jail" (1975) for Vanguard Records.The album was recorded in the mid-1970s at two prisons. She became the leader of a blues ensemble .Thornton performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1966 and 1968, and at the San Francisco Blues Festival in 1979. In 1965 she performed with the American Folk Blues Festival package in Europe where she recorded her album "Big Mama Thornton in Europe" and followed it up the next year in San Francisco with "Big Mama Thornton with the Chicago Blues Band". Both albums came out on the Arhoolie label. Thornton continued to record for Vanguard, Mercury, and other small labels in the 1970s and to work the blues festival circuit until her death in 1984. She was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1984.