My NTS
Live now
1
Houston
01:00 - 02:00

R&B classics from D'Angelo, Aaliyah, Cameo and more chopped and screwed by the one and only… Selected by NTS.

2
Montreal
01:00 - 02:00

Monthly transmissions from the eclectic world of CRISIS ACTING.

Robert Pete Williams

Robert Pete Williams

Robert Pete Williams has been played on NTS over 10 times, featured on 13 episodes and was first played on 12 October 2015.

Robert Pete Williams (March 14, 1914 – December 31, 1980) was an American blues musician, based in Louisiana. His music characteristically employs unconventional blues tunings and structures, and his songs are often about the time he served in prison. His song "I've Grown So Ugly" was covered by Captain Beefheart, on his album Safe as Milk (1967), whose version was later covered by The Black Keys, on Rubber Factory (2004).

Williams was born in Zachary, Louisiana to sharecropping parents, and lived around the Baton Rouge area throughout his life. He was discovered in Angola prison, by ethnomusicologists Dr Harry Oster and Richard Allen, where he was serving a life sentence for shooting a man dead in a local club in 1956, an act which he claimed was in self-defense. Oster and Allen recorded Williams performing several of his songs about life in prison and pleaded for him to be pardonned. The pardon was partially granted in 1959, when Williams was released, although he could not leave Louisiana until he received a full pardon 1964. By this time, Williams' music had achieved some favorable word-of-mouth reviews, and he played his first concert outside Louisiana at that year's Newport Folk Festival. Williams went on to tour the United States, and played a number of shows with Mississippi Fred McDowell. He continued to play concerts and festivals into the late-1970s when his health began to decline. Williams died in Rosedale, Louisiana on December 31, 1980, at the age of 66.

read more

Robert Pete Williams

Robert Pete Williams has been played on NTS over 10 times, featured on 13 episodes and was first played on 12 October 2015.

Robert Pete Williams (March 14, 1914 – December 31, 1980) was an American blues musician, based in Louisiana. His music characteristically employs unconventional blues tunings and structures, and his songs are often about the time he served in prison. His song "I've Grown So Ugly" was covered by Captain Beefheart, on his album Safe as Milk (1967), whose version was later covered by The Black Keys, on Rubber Factory (2004).

Williams was born in Zachary, Louisiana to sharecropping parents, and lived around the Baton Rouge area throughout his life. He was discovered in Angola prison, by ethnomusicologists Dr Harry Oster and Richard Allen, where he was serving a life sentence for shooting a man dead in a local club in 1956, an act which he claimed was in self-defense. Oster and Allen recorded Williams performing several of his songs about life in prison and pleaded for him to be pardonned. The pardon was partially granted in 1959, when Williams was released, although he could not leave Louisiana until he received a full pardon 1964. By this time, Williams' music had achieved some favorable word-of-mouth reviews, and he played his first concert outside Louisiana at that year's Newport Folk Festival. Williams went on to tour the United States, and played a number of shows with Mississippi Fred McDowell. He continued to play concerts and festivals into the late-1970s when his health began to decline. Williams died in Rosedale, Louisiana on December 31, 1980, at the age of 66.

Original source: Last.fm

Tracks featured on

Most played tracks

Dyin' Soul
Robert Pete Williams
Arhoolie Records0
High As I Want To Be
Robert Pete Williams
Takoma1968
Church On Fire #2
Robert Pete Williams
Arhoolie Records0
This Is A Mean Old World To Me
Robert Pete Williams
Takoma1968
So Much Is Happenin' In This Wicked World
Robert Pete Williams
Arhoolie Records1994
Pardon Renied (Denied) Again
Robert Pete Williams
Folk-Lyric0
I'll Be Glad When I'm From Behind Iron Walls
Robert Pete Williams
Folk-Lyric0
Pardon Denied Again
Robert Pete Williams
Trikont2006
Hobo Worried Blues
Robert Pete Williams
Fantasy1973
It's A Long Old Road
Robert Pete Williams
Takoma1968