Columbus Stockade Blues: A Song History

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"Columbus Stockade Blues" takes its name from the old jail in Columbus, Georgia, a pair of brick buildings[1] on Tenth Street.[2] Sources differ on its dates: a 1985 historical marker says the buildings served as jail and police headquarters from the 1850s to 1906, while a National Register survey dates the property to about 1870 and says it held prisoners until early 1972.[1][2] The song was written in 1927 by Columbus native Tom Darby and his partner Jimmie Tarlton.[2] Its words also overlap with an older folk song: the Traditional Ballad Index observes that some versions of "Dear Companion" are hard to tell apart from "Columbus Stockade Blues" in their lyrics.[3]

Early 1900s postcard, General View, Columbus, Ga., looking down a broad street lined with shops

General View, Columbus, Ga., postcard, The Rotograph Co., 1905. Library of Congress. No known restrictions on publication. The city about two decades before the song; the stockade itself is not shown.

The duo recorded it for Columbia in Atlanta on November 10, 1927, with Darby singing and playing guitar and Tarlton adding vocals and slide guitar; it was issued in 1928 on Columbia 15212-D, backed with "Birmingham Jail."[4] That record sold close to 200,000 copies,[5][6] but the two men reportedly saw just $75 for it, paid as a one-time sum.[6] Later artists kept it alive. Jimmie Davis recorded it for Decca on July 27, 1942, with the label crediting the song to Davis and Eva Sargent rather than its originators.[7] Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys cut it on April 26, 1962, for the 1963 Decca album Bluegrass Special.[8][9] Willie Nelson opened his 1966 RCA Victor album Country Favorites – Willie Nelson Style with it,[10][11] and Doc Watson included it on his 1975 album Memories.[12][13]

The stockade buildings, later joined into one, were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.[1] The 1985 marker said they had changed little since the song's day, and noted that the song had since been performed in country, bluegrass, blues and jazz styles.[1]

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Sources

  1. Digital Library of Georgia: "Columbus Stockade Blues historical marker".
  2. National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places: "Historic Resources of Columbus, Muscogee County, Georgia".
  3. The Traditional Ballad Index: "Dear Companion".
  4. Discogs: "Darby & Tarlton – Birmingham Jail / Columbus Stockade Blues" (Columbia 15212-D).
  5. Southern Spaces: "Blues in the Lower Chattahoochee Valley".
  6. Historic Columbus: "Showstoppers and Curtain Raisers: Darby and Tarlton and the Road to Rock and Roll".
  7. Internet Archive, Great 78 Project: "Columbus Stockade Blues" (Jimmie Davis, Decca 6083).
  8. Wikipedia: "Bluegrass Special".
  9. SecondHandSongs: "Columbus Stockade Blues" by Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys.
  10. Wikipedia: "Country Favorites – Willie Nelson Style".
  11. Discogs: "Willie Nelson – Country Favorites – Willie Nelson Style".
  12. Wikipedia: "Memories (Doc Watson album)".
  13. Discogs: "Doc Watson – Memories" (United Artists UA-LA423-H2).