Railroad Bill was an African-American desperado in the late 1800s who is buried in Florida.
An African-American folk ballad about him has been recorded numerous times by both black and white artists and with different lyrics. I don’t know the recording dates for many of the versions so I just estimated where they belonged chronologically.
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott with Woody Guthrie 1953?)
Etta Baker &Cora Phillips (unknown)
Etta Baker with Taj Mahal (2004)
Billy Bragg and Joe Henry (2016)
Sad! 