Hambone Willie Newbern (1899 – 1947)[1] was an American guitar-playing country blues musician.[2] His home community was in the Brownsville, Tennessee area along Tennessee State Route 19.[3] He was reported to have played with Yank Rachell and Sleepy John Estes (from whom most of our knowledge of Hambone was gained) in the 1920s and 1930s.[1] He recorded one of the earliest known versions of the blues standard "Rollin' and Tumblin'" in 1929. He only recorded six tracks in total, which also included, "She Could Toodle-Oo" and "Hambone Willie's Dreamy-Eyed Woman's Blues."[1]
Newbern was a hot-tempered man who eventually was beaten to death in a prison brawl, around 1947.[4]