William-Jennings-Bryan-Funeral-Car-1925

The monkey trial and in particular the death of William Jennings Bryan came about just as record companies were still trying to figure out what to do with country music. Charlie Oaks, the blind singer-songwriter from Kentucky who spent most of his days playing for nickels at the Southern Railway station, had gotten the attention of some academic folklorists for his disaster songs, some of them about tragedies he had witnessed almost directly, like the New Market Train Wreck. He was likely there when Bryan’s funeral train arrived. Weeks later, it was in New York, recording for Vocalion label his latest song, “The Death of William Jennings Bryan.”