The Gun Club - Railroad Bill (live March 1981) w. WARD DOTSON

recorded live at Club 88, Los Angeles, CA, March 6, 1981
JEFFREY LEE PIERCE - Vocals - WARD DOTSON - Guitars - ROB RITTER - Bass - TERRY GRAHAM - Drums -
from the Semi-legal LP "Sex Beat 81" released by Lolita Records in 1984
a cover from the old blues folk song "Railroad Bill"
Ballads about Railroad Bill started circulating around 1900, and in 1929 Will Bennett, an unknown songster, recorded the most famous afro-american version in Tennessee.
listen here to Will Bennett's version from 1929
• Will Bennett - Railroa...
about Railroad Bill:
On March 7, 1896, a man was shot at Tidmore and Ward's general store in Atmore, Alabama (see photo above), and fell dead with 15 bullets in his body. The authorities and newspapers identified him as Railroad Bill, the famous outlaw who had been robbing trains in the Louisville to Nashville (L&N) railroad line and around, and murdered (at least) a lawman and 2 sheriffs that ware sent after him. You can find his whole story here at the Encyclopedia of Alabama, and an account of his death here at Lady Muleskinner Press.
Railroad Bill soon became a hero, especially to African Americans, who saw him as a symbol of rebellion against white power in these hard times of increasing segregation. He was said to be a sort of Robin Hood, selling stolen goods to the poor at a cheap price, and as a trickster and even a shapeshifter, able to turn into a dog or a fox when he was hunted. As Paul Oliver writes in his book Songsters and Saints :
Railroad Bill was the bad man/hero who was admired and feared by the black community; the outlaw on whom could be projected the challenge to the dominant whites, which, in a troubled time, they were too afraid to make themselves.
gun club images were taken from the web & this great fan page:
www.fromthearch...
great reading: THE GUN CLUB STORY
www.furious.com...
another great fan page:
www.jeffreyleep...

[@robertomunoz2395]

Saw them from the beginning....... absolutely amazing !

[@mmckissack2379]

What a trip

[@ratlungworm7035]

This is fantastic, but I wish they did this one on an album.

[@CollapsingRealities]

The Pixies six years before the Pixies.

[@jeromefecto8085]

I hopes JLP will got the place he deserve in american music history one day.