Artist: Bentley Ball
Author: Billy Gashade
Label: Columbia
Year: 1919

The real Jesse and his brother Frank were bank & train robbers from Missouri, "robbed from the rich, gave to the poor". During the civil war they joined the Confederate guerilla band Quantrill's Raiders, terrorizing local Union sympathizers. They once shot 22 unarmed Union soldiers embarking from a train, while spearing civilian passengers. That's when the pricefighting Pinkerton Detective Agency started getting after them. The Missouri governor had put a $10.000 reward on Jesse's head, who eventually was shot (in the back) by 20 year old Robert Ford, brother of Charles Ford, one of Jesse's gangsters. Ford in turn was shot by outlaw Edward O'Kelly, seeking revenge for the death of Jesse. The jury sentenced O'Kelly to a mere two years, while Theodore Roosevelt once referred to Jesse as "an American Robin Hood".

Also by The Kingston Trio, Lead Belly, Bob Seger, Country Joe McDonald, New Lost City Ramblers, Roy Rogers & The Sons Of The Pioneers. Not to be confused with Woody Guthrie's (1939). Billy Gashade, who was credited for this saga song, was a black prisoner.