Anthology of American Folk Music
Volume 1: Ballads, Track 20

WHITE HOUSE BLUES
Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers

Recorded New York: September 20, 1926
Charlie Poole, vocal and banjo; Posey Rorer, fiddle; Ron Harvey, guitar
Originally released on Columbia 15099D

(alternate titles: Hard Times; McKinley; McKinley's Blues; McKinley's Gone; The Unlucky Road to Washington; and related songs which include Cannon Ball Blues; Solid Gone)

Charlie Poole (1892-1931) and the North Carolina Ramblers were one of the most popular string bands of the 1920s. Poole was from the piedmont region of North Carolina and like many in the region worked in textile mills. Playing banjo in a sharp three-finger picking style, Poole's idol was Al Jolson and he based his singing style on him (Bill Malone, Country Music U.S.A, pg. 51). Poole died at age 39 from a combination of hard living and alcoholism.

Other members of the group included Posey Rorer on fiddle and Roy Harvey on guitar. Rorer played with a number of string bands in the area and appears with a number of groups on this recording (Tracks 11, 14, 16). Roy Harvey (1892-1958) was a West Virginia railroad engineer from Beckley. He worked on the railroad off and on during his lifetime, eventually settling in Florida. Harvey was also a songwriter, and frequently wrote ballads having to do with the railroad including "The Wreck of the C&O".

Both Virginian Ernest Stoneman and Georgian Riley Puckett recorded very different versions of the this Presidential assassination ballad during the 1920s. "White House Blues" has been performed by many other groups since Poole and has become a bluegrass standard. The song shares a similar tune to the Carter Family's "Cannon Ball Blues."

FOR ADDITIONAL RECORDINGS OF POOLE AND THE NORTH CAROLINA RAMBLERS: see Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, Vols. 1 and 2 (CTY 3501c and 3508c); Charlie Poole and the Highlanders (ARB 201a); Charlie Poole 1927-1929 (HIS 8005a); The Legend of Charlie Poole (CTY 516a); and Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, Vol. 4 (CTY 540a); and the collections Ballads and Breakdowns of the Golden Era (COL 9660a); Roots 'n Blues (COL 47911c); White Country Blues, 1926-1938 (COL 47466c); Collection of Mountain Fiddle Music (CTY 501a); Collection of Mountain Ballads (CTY 502a); Collection of Mountain Songs (CTY 504a); Cotton Mills and Fiddles (Flying Cloud 014a); Traditional Country Classics, 1927-1929 (HIS 8003 a); Going Down the Valley (NW 236a); Old Time Southern Dance Music: The String Bands (OT 100a), and Native American Ballads (RCA 548a). Also the Library of Congress recording, Songs and Ballads of American History and the Assasination of Presidents (LC AFSL29a) might be of interest.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON POOLE: see Rambling Blues: The Life and Songs of Charlie Poole by Kinney Rorrer, (London: Old Time Music, 1982); also by Rorrer (a relative of Posey Rorer), "Leaving Home: Charlie Poole's Early Years", The Journal of Country Music Vol. 9, No. 1 (1981). For a study of the relationship between White House Blues, Cannon Ball Blues, and McKinley, see Neil Rosenberg in The JEMF Newsletter (No. 10) June 1968. For additional information on Roy Harvey, see JEMF Newsletter (No. 10) June 1968.

OTHER RECORDED VERSIONS include:
Traditional American Folk: as White House Blues: Doc Watson (VG 45/46c); The Watson Family (VG 77001c); and as the related song Solid Gone: Doc Watson (SGH 3742c); as Zolgotz: Bascom Lamar Lunsford (Library of Congress AAFSL29a).

Folksong revival: as White House Blues: The New Deal String Band (SIR 97024a); Hedy West and Bill Clifton (FV 12008a); as McKinley: (The Greenbriar Boys (VG 79159a); and as the related song Cannon Ball Blues: Dian and the Greenbriar Boys (ELK 233a); Utah Phillips (PH 1004c). Songs adapted from White House Blues include Baltimore to Washington: Woody Guthrie (SFW CD 31010c, SF 40101c); as Lindbergh: Woody Guthrie (SFW CD 40100c). 

Country/String Band: as White House Blues: Roy Harper (OH 80094a); The New Lost City Ramblers (SFW CD 2494c, FW 5264c); The Pine Ridge Boys (BB 8626b); as McKinley: Wade Mainer (OH 4000a); as the Unlucky Road to Washington: Ernest Stoneman (CTY 3510c); and the related song Cannonball Blues: Carter Family (TL 006a); Maybelle Carter (VG 77016c); Wayne Henderson (FF 70542c). 

Bluegrass: as White House Blues: Boone Creek (RND 0081c); Vassar Clements and the Osborne Brothers (FF 038c); Raymond Fairchild (RR 146a); Del McCoury (REB 1610d); Bill Monroe (SF 40063c, SF 40080c, MCA 10048c); Charlie Monroe (CTY 538a); Clyde Moody (REB 1672a, WGO 102a); Glen Neaves and the Grayson County Boys (KWH 302a); Don Reno and Bill Harrell (RR 171a); The Stanley Brothers (CC 0101c, REB 855d); Earl Taylor (SFW CD 40038c); The Virginia Mountain Boys (SFW 3833c); as McKinley's Blues: Norman Blake and Friends (FF 701c); as McKinley's Gone: Flatt and Scruggs (COL 1830a). And as the related song Cannonball Blues: Jerry Douglas and Peter Rowan (SGH 3847c); Flatt and Scruggs (COL 2134a); Richard Greene (REB 1714c); Raymond McLain (FF 597c); Marty Stuart (CMH 8000a).

Popular: as White House Blues:Howard de Silva (MNT 595a).

Rock: as Hard Times: Bolied in Lead (OMN 2006c).

British: as White House Blues: John Renbourn (REP 2082a).