Dying Crapshooter's Blues

When folklorist John A. Lomax set up his portable disc recorder in an Atlanta hotel room, he captured Blind Willie McTell entirely outside the constraints of commercial record companies. Unburdened by the need for a three-minute jukebox hit, McTell stretched out on a brilliant, narrative reimagining of the traditional "St. James Infirmary." He wove a vivid, cinematic tale of a dying gambler named Little Jesse, requesting a funeral procession of crapshooters and pallbearers. It stands as a profound document of McTell's genius not just as a guitarist, but as a master storyteller of Southern folklore.