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William "Hambone Willie" Newbern (c. 1901 – April 15, 1965) was an American country blues musician who was active from the 1920s to the 1940s.

Biography

Few details are known of Newbern's life. He is believed to have been born in Haywood County, Tennessee, in or around Brownsville, along Tennessee State Route 19. A guitarist, singer, and mandolin player, Newburn was reported to have played with Yank Rachell and Sleepy John Estes (who provided many biographical details about Newbern) in the 1920s and 1930s. Newburn recorded one of the earliest known versions of the blues standard "Rollin' and Tumblin'", which was waxed in Atlanta, Georgia in 1929. He only recorded six sides in total, all for Okeh Records, which also included "She Could Toodle-Oo" and "Hambone Willie's Dreamy-Eyed Woman's Blues."

Through Newbern was reputedly hot-tempered, reports that he was beaten to death in a prison brawl around 1947 are disputed by researchers Bob Eagle and Eric LeBlanc, who assert that he died at his home in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1965.

References

1. ^ Eagle, Bob; LeBlanc, Eric S. (2013). Blues - A Regional Experience. Santa Barbara: Praeger Publishers. p. 240. ISBN 978-0313344237.
2. Komara, Edward; Lee, Peter (2004). The Blues Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 722. ISBN 9781135958312.
3. Sullivan, Steve (2017). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (3nd ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. p. 86. ISBN 9781442254497.
4. "Hambone WILLIE NEWBERN". thebluestrail.com. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
5. A History of Tennessee Arts, University of Tennessee Press
6. Congress, Richard (2010). Blues Mandolin Man: The Life and Music of Yank Rachell. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 42. ISBN 9781628467635.
7. Du Noyer, Paul (2003). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music (1st ed.). London: Flame Tree Publishing. p. 181. ISBN 1-904041-96-5.
8. ^ "Biography by Jason Ankeny". Allmusic.com. Retrieved September 4, 2011.
9. Robert Palmer (1981). Deep Blues. Penguin Books. p. 123. ISBN 978-0-14-006223-6.

External links

• Illustrated Hambone Willie Newbern discography

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