Chain gang taken in August of 1910 at Pitt County, North Carolina. The blood hounds were for chasing down escapees. A man holds a guitar that appears to be a cheap Sears model. One man Lomax interviewed admitted that he was never able to go straight and hold down an honest job and took to fighting, stealing and robbing people. He was such trouble that when the cops arrested him for a crime for which he was innocent, he told them, “But I didn’t do nothin’,” to which the arresting officer replied, “Don’t matter. Sooner or later, you’re gonna do somethin’.” Some black men preferred prison because they had a roof over their heads and three squares a day which was more than they had on the outside. They may not have had freedom but blacks, especially in the South, were never really free anyway. As for sexual needs, once you’re behind bars for a couple of years, you tend not to be particular about who your partner is.
Rube Lacy - Mississippi Jail House Groan (1928) Blues - YouTube
Rube Lacy's "Mississippi Jailhouse Groan" is the deepest, darkest country blues I've ever heard.
