- 1. Jimmie Rodgers Gamblin'bar room blues 2 03:23
- 2. Ethel Waters Frankie & Johnny 03:07
- 3. Sonny By Williamson Your funeral my trial 02:30
- 4. Lord Exector Seven skeletons found in the yard 02:50
- 5. Billy Boy Arnold Prisoners plea 03:32
- 6. Wilmouth Houdini & His Humming Birds Bandsman shooting case 02:52
- 7. Roosevelt Sykes 44 Blues 03:07
- 8. Memphis Minnie Biting bug blues 03:20
- 9. Bessie Smith & Her Blues Boys Send me to the 'lectric chair 03:16
- 10. Wade mainer & Zeke Morris Down in the willow 02:35
- 11. Blind Boy Fuller Pistol slapper blues 02:42
- 12. A'nt Idy Harper & The Goon Greek Girls Pooer naomi wise 02:38
- 13. Honeyboy Bloodstains on the wall 02:58
- 14. Little Walter & His Lukes Boom, boom out goes the light 02:43
- 15. Louis Armstrong You rascal you 03:05
- 16. Champion Jack Dupree I'm going down with you 02:47
- 17. The Stanley Brothers Pretty Polly 02:50
- 18. Archibald Stack-a-lee part 1&2 04:34
- 19. Henry Thomas Bob McKinney 02:54
- 20. G.B. Grayson & Henry Whitter Rose Conley 03:23
- 21. Billy Holiday Strange fruit 03:08
- 22. Lonnie Jackson Got the blues for murder only 03:24
- 23. The Delmore Brothers The fugitives lament 02:40
Ever since the days of Cain and Abel, many a fine murder story has gripped people’s imagination. Jealousy is not the only root cause of man’s murderous impulse. Greed, lust, guilt, power – any one of these, it seems, is sufficient to justify taking a human life. Every day we read of brutal murders being committed. These stories were ripped from newspaper headlines and recast into verse and recorded, often within weeks of the actual event. They became part of the repertoire of hillbilly bands, blues guitarist, jugbands, R&B and Tin Pan Alley entertainers, bluegrass artists and calypso singers.
“Murder!” contains 23 of the best songs of that tradition, songs of brutal crime and vicious killings and ballads about “outlaws”, who took revenge for crimes commited against the poor.