You'll be no poor boy after these blues...

As most of you dedicated Pulp and Circumstance readers already know, I, humble blogger, am obsessed with all things Alan Lomax, traditional field recordings, and of course, prison song.

And I can't stop spinning some recordings Lomax gathered up in the 1930s at sharecropping prisons across much of the south--where members of the chain gang took freedom and slave tunes, reworked them, added some traditional blues, and created new tracks that became one of the most intriguing sociological studies, and, music genres.

One of the most amazing recordings is a version of the traditional blues tune "Poor Boy", which has been reinterpreted a million times over by many famous blues greats, and can often be referred to as "Poor Boy Blues", as well, and its many incarnations include a whole host of lyrics and different melody arrangement, but always features that inevitable character--the poor boy. Think Bukka White, R.L. Burnside, Bo Weavil Jackson, Barbeque Bob and Mississippi John Hurt.

These poor boy blues were most notably played by musicians who worked versions of the slide or lapstyle guitar--and the most consistent lyric to find its way into almost every versions' chorus is "I'm a po' boy long way from home", which is one of the best ways to distinguish whether a tune is a version of this traditional blues track.

And the Beatles even sort of took this tune, with "Matchbox", featuring lyrics about a poor boy long way from home. Naturally.

But there's something about Lomax's recording of prisoners doing "Poor Boy" that really knocks this here blog's socks off. Literally. I was wearing socks but five minutes prior, I am not...now. Though, unfortunately, I can find little about where it was recorded and if any of the names of the prisoners were attributed somewheres.

So, in honor of this thrilling traditional blues tune, I bring you all the "Poor Boy" one listener can handle.

For more on Alan Lomax this blog's written in the past, click click click.

[Alan Lomax records prisoners in 1939 working "Poor Boy".]
[John Dudley, roots of the blues and slide guitar accompaniment, does "Po' Boy Blues".]
[R.L. Burnside works the classic live, "Poor Boy Blues", date unknown.]
[Booker "Bukka" White introduces you to his poor boy...with "Poor Boy Long Way From Home"...a truly remarkable performance with lapystyle guitar.]
[Yet another thrilling version of the tune done by Bukka White. Drools.]
[Live at BBC, the Beatles work "Matchbook", well, mostly Ringo, anyways, featuring the influence traditional delta blues had on the pop world.]