Kelly Pace

12+ albums

Lo-Fifolkrock island linespiritualsWhat Shall We Do Without Us

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about

Kelly Pace (born 1902 - ?) in Camden, Ouachita County, Arkansas, USA. In 1934 John Lomax with the help of Huddie Ledbetter (Leadbelly) made the first two recordings of "Rock Island Line", a song that would become world-famous later. The singer was a prisoner named Kelly Pace, who was doing five years for burglary. Pace would eventually contribute more than thirty performances to the Library of Congress archives. Lomax made additional recording trips to Arkansas prisons in 1939 and 1942, unaccompanied by Ledbetter. Pace was a free man at the time of the 1939 visit, but Lomax collected a third version of “The Rock Island Line,” this time in Cummins Prison. By 1942, Pace was back in stir, sent up for forty-two years for stealing a car, and once again he was the star. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.