Richard Williams (and Family) - You've Got to Stand Your Trial in Judgement
Recorded May 27, 1978 at Williams' home in Jonesville, Florida.
Folklorists Peggy Bulger and Dwight DeVane visited the Williams family home in August of 1977 and recorded "Begging Her to Come Home." This song – the earliest recording of Williams in the Folklife Collection – is unique for its rareness, as it does not appear in popular blues literature.
DeVane returned the following year with folklorists Stephen and Brenda McCallum. They brought better recording equipment in order to document as many songs as possible, including "Polk County Blues," an iconic local standard in the repertoire of many Florida blues musicians. As with "Old Forty," which references a passenger train on the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad that ran through Polk and Alachua counties, the song is regionally specific and infused with the standard blues tropes of hostile women and rambling.
from the Florida Folklife Collection (1978)
Photos: State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. See more here: https://www.floridamemory.com/discove...
Photos:
Roy DeCarava
Brenda McCallum
Peggy Bulger
Blanton Owen
Dwight DeVane
