J.B. Lenoir’s “Alabama Blues” is a rather well-known blues protest song. It stands out because, by the 1960s, it was increasingly rare for blues musicians to sing about poverty, despair, and social injustice. And, fifty years since the tune was recorded under the supervision of Chicago blues master Willie Dixon, its lyrics still carry a deep resonance.
Lenoir, who is a character in the song, expresses why he will never go back to Alabama. His sister and brother were killed in the state. The justice system let the killers go free.
Alabama is also a state he will never love because his brother defended his mother. Police shot him down. “I can’t help but to sit down and cry some times/Think about how my poor brother lost his life,” Lenoir sings.
In the song, Lenoir’s character decries the incarceration of his people “behind a barbed wire fence.” The song ends with Lenoir declaring, “Now you’re... (Continues)