Hambone Willie Newbern

Who was Hambone Willie Newbern?

Hambone Willie Newbern was an American guitar-playing country blues musician. His home community was in the Brownsville, Tennessee area along Tennessee State Route 19. He was reported to have played with Yank Rachell and Sleepy John Estes in the 1920s and 1930s. He recorded one of the earliest known versions of the blues standard "Rollin' and Tumblin'" in 1929. He only recorded six tracks in total, which also included, "She Could Toodle-Oo" and "Hambone Willie's Dreamy-Eyed Woman's Blues."

Newbern was a hot-tempered man who eventually was beaten to death in a prison brawl, around 1947.