James Iron Head Baker - Black Betty (1933)

“Black Betty“ (Roud 11668) is a 20th century African-American work song often credited to Huddie “Lead Belly“ Ledbetter as the author, though the earliest recordings are not by him. Some sources claim it is one of Lead Belly’s many adaptations of earlier folk material;[1] in this case an 18th century marching cadence about a flint-lock musket. The song was first recorded in the field by U.S. musicologists John and Alan Lomax in 1933, performed a cappella by the convict James Baker (also known as Iron Head)