| Hambone Willie Newbern | |
| Birth Name: | William Newbern |
| Death Date: | April 15, 1965 (aged 63–64) |
| Death Place: | Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Genre: | Country blues |
| Occupation: | Musician |
| Label: | Okeh |
| Years Active: | 1920s–1940s |
William "Hambone Willie" Newbern (– April 15, 1965) was an American country blues musician who was active from the 1920s to the 1940s.[1]
Few details are known of Newbern's life. He is believed to have been born in Haywood County, Tennessee,[2] in or around Brownsville, along Tennessee State Route 19.[3] [4] [5] A guitarist, singer, and mandolin player,[6] [7] Newburn was reported to have played with Yank Rachell and Sleepy John Estes (who provided many biographical details about Newbern) in the 1920s and 1930s.[8] Newburn recorded one of the earliest known versions of the blues standard "Rollin' and Tumblin'", which was waxed in Atlanta, Georgia in 1929.[9] He only recorded six sides in total, all for Okeh Records, which also included "She Could Toodle-Oo" and "Hambone Willie's Dreamy-Eyed Woman's Blues."[8]
Through Newbern was reputedly hot-tempered, reports that he was beaten to death in a prison brawl around 1947[8] are disputed by researchers Bob Eagle and Eric LeBlanc, who assert that he died at his home in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1965.[2]
. Deep Blues. Robert Palmer. 1981. Robert Palmer (American writer). Penguin Books. 123. 978-0-14-006223-6. registration.