A great question. For every badman/outlaw ballad in the Black tradition, there are three white ones -- Jesse James, Cole Younger, Quantrill, Sam Bass, Dick Turpin, etc. Everybody loves to sing and tell stories about dangerous men. One telling difference, I think, is that the white ballad singers tended either to explicitly condemn the outlaw's bad acts or to excuse them -- turning the outlaw into a righteous Robin Hood-type figure. Whereas the Black badman ballads made no apologies. That's an oversimplification, but there are some important differences between the traditions that I'm trying to flesh out in the book.
I first came across Staggalee in Alan Lomax's book on American folk music in my high school library in the 1960s. It was so good to hear a deep dive into its origins. As to needing a bad man and St Lpuis racism, I wonder how the legend of Jesse James fits into the bad/celebrated man narrative.
Much more old school regarding Jesse James. One cowboys were still cool, and two confederate apologia was still acceptable. But other than that, yeah pretty similar. They moved the house Jesse James was shot at to the location of the Western museum in Independence. It’s worth a visit.
A great question. For every badman/outlaw ballad in the Black tradition, there are three white ones -- Jesse James, Cole Younger, Quantrill, Sam Bass, Dick Turpin, etc. Everybody loves to sing and tell stories about dangerous men. One telling difference, I think, is that the white ballad singers tended either to explicitly condemn the outlaw's bad acts or to excuse them -- turning the outlaw into a righteous Robin Hood-type figure. Whereas the Black badman ballads made no apologies. That's an oversimplification, but there are some important differences between the traditions that I'm trying to flesh out in the book.
Well Eric, what's the goal here?
I first came across Staggalee in Alan Lomax's book on American folk music in my high school library in the 1960s. It was so good to hear a deep dive into its origins. As to needing a bad man and St Lpuis racism, I wonder how the legend of Jesse James fits into the bad/celebrated man narrative.
Much more old school regarding Jesse James. One cowboys were still cool, and two confederate apologia was still acceptable. But other than that, yeah pretty similar. They moved the house Jesse James was shot at to the location of the Western museum in Independence. It’s worth a visit.
Liberty MO, not Independence.