Dying Crapshooters Blues

John A. Lomax and his wife Ruby recorded this track in an Atlanta hotel room. McTell plays his signature 12-string guitar, blending ragtime precision with deep blues themes. The song adapts the traditional British ballad "The Unfortunate Rake" into the story of a gambler named Jesse. The Piedmont blues connection is textbook: McTell uses an alternating bassline with a ragtime melody on the treble strings, masking a dark, mournful lyric about death and funeral demands behind a sprightly, upbeat musical arrangement.