Folklorist Dr. Harry Oster used the tool room of the Louisiana state penitentiary at Angola to record Angola Prisoners’ Blues in 1959. Of the three guitar-playing convicts featured on this LP — Robert "Guitar" Welch, Matthew "Hogman" Maxey, and Robert Pete Williams — it was Welch (born in Memphis in 1896) who was hailed by the prison population as "King of the Blues". But Robert Pete Williams, who was serving time for murder, was the only one to go on to greater fame as one of the most intriguing figures of the 1960s Folk Blues revival. These recordings (Williams’ first) actually helped him earn a parole and subsequent pardon through the efforts of Oster and his associate Richard Allen. Oster originally released Angola Prisoners’ Blues on the Louisiana Folklore Society label, which evolved into Folk-Lyric Records. A reissue on Chris Strachwitz’s Arhoolie label in 1970 brought the LP to more widespread attention in the Blues world, and Williams continued to record until his death in 1980. A CD version on Arhoolie added 13 tracks by several different performers to the original LP.
