Artist: Blind Andy Jenkins
Author: Andy Jenkins
Label: Okeh
Year: 1925
Atlanta ballad, composed by a white paperboy/evangelist, while based on true facts: Frank Dupree was a murderer who was hanged in Atlanta in 1922.
Covers:
Blind Willie Walker [blind South Carolina guitarist; ex Greenville String Band, just like Blind Gary Davis]
Walter Roberts [as Dupree]
Josh White [who toured with Willie Walker during the twenties]
Blind Sonny Terry [as Betty & Dupree]
Brownie McGhee [idem]
Billy Lee Riley [idem]
Chuck Willis [idem; pop version lacking the slightest referrence to the crime (compare with Lloyd Price's Stagger Lee)]
Dave Van Ronk [idem; with lyrics true to the facts]
Nyles Jones [as DePritt & Betty]
Guitar Gabriel [as Betty & DePritt]
Taj Mahal [as Betty & Dupree]
Songs about enamoured boys stealing jewelry for their girls and paying for it in prison are universal. See also: Allentown Jail/Les Prisons Du Roi.
If you noticed blunt omissions, mis-interpretations or even out-and-out errors, please let us know by contacting us:
Arnold Rypens
Rozenlaan 65
B-2840 Reet (Rumst)