Columbia 15040-D... Recorded on September on September 11, 1924. Puckett plays banjo with Gid Tanner on Fiddle. Railroad Bill was a black man who robbed trains in southern Alabama. In 1897 he was spotted eating cheese and crackers on the front porch of a country store by a railroad cop and immediately shot dead.


This audio is part of the collection: 78 RPMs & Cylinder Recordings
It also belongs to collection: Music & Arts

Artist/Composer: Riley Puckett
Keywords: 78rpm; country; old time; 1920s; Bill from Ellerslie's record collection

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

Individual Files

Write a review
Downloaded 929 times Reviews
Average Rating:

Reviewer: bill from ellerslie - - June 27, 2012
Subject: Cheese and crackers
Stacy, I wish I could respond to you directly. The cheese and crackers story may or may not be true. I read it in the liner notes of People Take Warning! Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs 1913-1938, which had a different version of the song and a photograph of Bill's corpse! Anyway, it's a good story.

Reviewer: stacy27 - - June 27, 2012
Subject: The cheese & crackers bit...
...I have never heard of. I used to play this on guitar. Was one of the 1st songs I learned to play and I read about RR Bill and I have never read anything about the cheese & crackers nor his death on the front porch. A black man wouldnt be allowed to hang around the front porch of a store in those days. There are different versions of this song and in most of them Bill is the 'hero' rather than a simple, no-good thief.
" Railroad Bill, Railroad Bill...he never work and he never will...ride on Railroad Bill..."
He was a man fed up with working life and/or having no work at all... and whatnot. This is my understanding and I still enjoy playing this tune from time to time.