⬇️ ROBERT PETE WILLIAMS ⬇️
DISCOGRAPHY 1960-2015 (27LP/CD)
BIOGRAPHY
His music characteristically employed unconventional blues tunings and structures, and his songs are often about the time he served in prison.
His song "I've Grown So Ugly" has been covered by Captain Beefheart, on his album Safe as Milk (1967), and by The Black Keys, on Rubber Factory (2004).
Williams was born in Zachary, Louisiana, to a family of sharecroppers. He had no formal schooling, and spent his childhood picking cotton and cutting sugar cane.
In 1928, he moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana and worked in a lumberyard.
At the age of 20, Williams fashioned a crude guitar by attaching five
copper strings to a cigar box, and soon after bought a cheap,
mass-produced one. Williams was taught by Frank and Robert Metty, and was
at first chiefly influenced by Peetie Wheatstraw and Blind Lemon
Jefferson. He began to play for small events such as Church gatherings,
fish fries, suppers, and dances. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Williams
played music and continued to work in the lumberyards of Baton
Rouge.
He was discovered in Louisiana State Penitentiary, by ethnomusicologists
Dr Harry Oster and Richard Allen, where he was serving a life sentence for
shooting a man dead in a local club in 1956, an act which he claimed was
in self-defense. Oster and Allen recorded Williams performing several of
his songs about life in prison, and pleaded for him to be pardoned.
Under pressure from Oster, the parole board issued a pardon, and commuted
his sentence to 12 years. In December 1958, he was released into
'servitude parole', which required 80 hours of labor per week on a Denham
Springs farm without due compensation, and only room and board
provided.
This parole prevented him from working in music, though he was able to
occasionally play with Willie B.Thomas and Butch Cage at Thomas's home in
Zachary. By this time, Williams' music had achieved some favorable
word-of-mouth reviews, and he played his first concert outside Louisiana
at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival.
By 1965, he was able to tour the country, traveling to Los Angeles,
Massachusetts, Chicago and Berkeley, California. In 1966 he also toured
Europe. In 1968 he settled in Maringouin, west of Baton Rouge and began to
work outside of music.
In 1970, Williams began to perform once again, touring blues and folk
festivals throughout the United States and Europe. His music has appeared
in several films notably, the Roots of American Music; Country and Urban
Music (1971); Out of the Blues into the Blacks (1972) and Blues Under the
Skin (1972) the last two being French-made films.
His most popular recordings included "Prisoner's Talking Blues" and
"Pardon Denied Again". Williams has been inducted into the Louisiana Blues
Hall of Fame.
Williams had slowed down his work schedule by the late 1970s, largely due
to his age and declining health. Williams died in Rosedale, Louisiana on
December 31, 1980, at the age of 66.
NEW!
1980-Santa Fe Blues (LP) @FLAC
1981-Sugar Farm (LP) @FLAC