Robert Pete Williams
Robert Pete Williams (March 14 1914 – December 31 1980) was a Louisiana blues
guitarist born in Zachary, Louisiana, who grew up in sharecropping and
lumberyards. He built a cigar‑box guitar at age twenty and later studied with
Frank Metty and Robert Metty. While serving a life sentence for a 1956 nightclub
shooting, he was discovered by folklorists Dr. Harry Oster and Richard Allen;
they recorded his prison‑themed songs and helped secure a pardon that cut his
sentence to twelve years. After release he played at the 1964 Newport Folk
Festival, toured the United States and Europe i...
