ROBERT PETE WILLIAMS

Robert Pete Williams was born 14 March 1914 in Zachary to a family of sharecroppers. He had no formal schooling and spent his childhood picking cotton and cutting sugar cane. In 1928, he moved to Baton Rouge and worked in a lumberyard. At the age of 20, Williams fashioned a crude guitar by attaching five copper strings to a cigar box and soon after he bought a cheap, mass-produced one. Robert was taught by Frank and Robert Metty and began to play for small events such as Church gatherings, fish fries, suppers, and dances.

From the 1930s-1950s Williams played music and continued to work in the lumberyards of Baton Rouge. Unfortunately, in 1954 he was involved in a brawl that left one man dead. Williams plead self-defence but nevertheless was sentenced to life at Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, north of Baton Rouge (the same location as the modern facility).
In 1958, Dr. Harry Oster was at Angola collecting songs. We have a CD copy of this in our collection, filed under Louisiana Collection Angola Spirituals. Oster recorded Williams and another inmate, Roosevelt Charles at Camp H. These recordings were collected as Angola Prisoner's Blues (Folk-Lyric A3, later Arhoolie 2011) and Angola Prison Spirituals (Folk-Lyric A6).

Dr. Oster apparently undertook petitioning for Williams's pardon. Under pressure from the Doctor and from an alleged article that supposedly ran in Time Magazine, October of 1958 (Staff note:, I was unable to find this in our copies of Time from October of that year) the parole board issued a pardon and commuted his sentence to 12 years. In December of 1958 he was released into "servitude parole" which required 80 hours of labor per week on a Denham Springs farm without due compensation, and only room and board provided. This parole prevented him from working in music or doing much of anything, really. Though he was able to occasionally play with Willie B. Thomas and Butch Cage at Thomas's home in Zachary. These sessions were sometimes recorded and eventually released on the Folk-Lyric label as, The Prison Blues (106, later reissued as Arhoolie 2015) and Country Negro Jam Session (Folk-Lyric 111, reissued as Arhoolie 2015).

In 1964 the terms of the parole were lifted and Williams was free to tour. In 1964 he played at the Newport Folk Festival. In 1965 he was able to tour the country, traveling to Los Angeles, Massachusetts, Chicago and Berkeley. In 1966 he was able to tour Europe. In 1968 he settled in Maringouin, west of Baton Rouge and began to work outside of music.

In 1970, Williams began to perform once again, touring blues and folk festivals throughout the United States and Europe. His music has appeared in several films notably, the Roots of American Music; Country and Urban Music, 1971; Out of the Blues into the Blacks (1972) and Blues Under the Skin (1972) the last two being French-made films.

Here is a partial listings of recordings that have featured William's music:

• Angola Prisoner's Blues (Arhoolie 2001)
• Those Prison Blues (Arhoolie 2015)
  
• 101 Sugar Farm Blues (Beacon 1932)
• Robert Pete Williams and Snooks Eaglin (Fantasy 24715)
  
• Free Again (Prestige 7808)
• When I Lay My Burden Down (Southland 4)
• Louisiana Blues (Takoma b-1011)
• Legacy of the Blues Vol. 9 (Sonet 649)
• Robert Pete Williams (Ahura Mazda 2002)

SOURCE: Baton Rouge Blues: A Guide to the Baton Rouge Bluesmen and Their Music by Jimmy Beyer, 1980.  Publisher: Arts and Humanities Council of Greater Baton Rouge

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Angola Prisoners' Blues, (1996)

Angola Blues

Angola Prison Spirituals, (2003)

CD Louisiana Collection

Angola Spirituals

In the Library's print collection:

Baton Rouge Blues: A Guide To The Baton Rouge Bluesmen And Their Music, (1980)

La 784.756 B573b

These titles are linked to the Library's online catalog so you can see title locations and status. Once you're in the catalog, click on the picture of the book cover for a synopsis and other information.