Fact #58095
When:
Short story:
Foklorist Alan Lomax takes a 78rpm disc of Leadbelly singing Goodnight, Irene to Governor Allen of Louisiana State Penitentiary in hopes that it might earn the singer - who is in jail on murder charges - a pardon. It does.
Full article:
Alan Lomax (folklorist/record producer) : We agreed to make a record of his petition on the other side of one of his favourite ballads, Goodnight Irene. I took the record to Governor Allen on July 1. On August 1 Lead Belly got his pardon. On September 1 I was sitting in a hotel in Texas when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked up and there was Lead Belly with his guitar, his knife, and a sugar bag packed with all his earthly belongings. He said, 'Boss, you got me out of jail and now I've come to be your man'.
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