Bad Lee Brown (Little Sadie) [Laws I8]

DESCRIPTION: The singer goes out one night to "make his rounds." He meets his (girlfriend/wife), Little Sadie, and shoots her. He flees, but is overtaken and sentenced to (a long prison term/life)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: homicide prison
FOUND IN: US(Ap,So,SE)
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Laws I8, "Bad Lee Brown"
Randolph 155, "Bad Lee Brown" (2 fragments, 1 tune)
Cambiaire-EastTennesseeWestVirginiaMountainBallads, p. 22, "Little Sadie" (1 text)
Wheeler-SteamboatinDays, pp. 109-111, "Late One Night" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 252, "Sadie" (1 text)
Henry-SongsSungInTheSouthernAppalachians, pp. 39-40, "Little Sadie" (1 text)
Burton/Manning-EastTennesseeStateCollectionVol2, pp. 19-20, "Little Sadie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-OnTheTrailOfNegroFolkSongs, p. 243, (no title) (1 fragment)
Lomax/Lomax-AmericanBalladsAndFolkSongs, pp. 89-91, "Bad Man Ballad" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 659, LILSADIE*
Roud #780
RECORDINGS:
Clarence Ashley, "Little Sadie" (Columbia 15522-D, 1930; rec. 1929; on Ashley04, RoughWays1)
Clarence Ashley & Doc Watson, "Little Sadie" (on Ashley03, WatsonAshley01, ClassOT)
Blue Heaven, "Bad Man Ballad" (AAFS 384 B)
Mrs. Lloyd Bare Eagle, "Little Sadie" (AAFS 2851 B1)
Louise Foreacre, "Little Sadie" (on Stonemans01)
Woody Guthrie, "Bad Lee Brown" (on ClassAfrAm)
Wendell Hart & group of convicts, "Bad Man Ballad" (AAFS 2591 B2)
Willie Rayford, "Bad Man Ballad" (AAFS 2591 B2)
Rick Ward, "Little Sadie" (Piotr-Archive #132, recorded 04/18/2022)
Wade Ward, "Little Sadie" [instrumental] (on Holcomb-Ward1)
Unidentified Negro convict, "Bad Man Ballad" (AAFS 1859 A1-10)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Bad Man's Blunder
File: LI08

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