  istory,
they say, is written by the victorious. An adage as
old as written history, perhaps, and one written,
most certainly, by the same said victorious. And if
taken as
gospel, the wise and cynical man can, rightfully so,
posit an inherent dishonesty in the supposed historical
facts this adage speaks of. It would seem reasonable
to assume a measure of prejudice in the recounting
of one’s own deeds, especially when setting
them down to the printed page for the purposes of
posterity, for the very pointed purpose of creating
one’s own immortality. And in truth it has become
common for the modern scholar to question that which
was once
unquestioned, what was once accepted as gospel. The
search for truth is nothing if not
relentless, and advancements in the fields of medicine
to archaeology to forensics have laid bare the lies,
or at least the misconceptions, of past ‘truths’.
Where once the great Dinosaurs roamed prehistoric
Earth as gigantic, cold-blooded reptiles, they now
exist as the warm-blooded ancestors to modern birds.
Where once Polio ravaged a generation of the world’s
children, now the disease lies near extinction, a
relic of a comparatively archaic time. No longer is
time the insurmountable obstacle of the homicide investigator,
destroying all hope of redemption and justice with
each passing hour. Advancements in DNA recognition
and analysis have brought murderous deeds to light
decades after their commitment. And through this,
through all of this, we have seen not only our world,
and the perception of our world, change, but we have
seen history literally rewritten. It has come to pass
that we know history as a fluid body, not the rigid,
‘written-in-stone’ entity we once believed
it to be. The times they are a-changin’, my
friends, and they are changing behind us as well as
ahead.
 
t was with this perspective I began my journey of
discovery into the American south of 1920, to the
town of Money, Mississippi, and into the now infamous
legend that is B.B. Wolf. If you are reading these
notes, if you hold in your hands the recordings that
have, after so many years lost, come to see the light
of day once again, then you’ve no doubt come
to know the broad strokes of the truth. You’ve
heard the NPR interviews, you’ve seen the Dateline
expose, and you’ve no doubt read the book this
CD accompanies. If not, please set this down and do
so. It is essential for understanding the ‘facts’
to come. For those who have read the book, here is
a recap of what had been, for far too long, held as
truth. Barnabus Benjamin Wolf was born to James and
Esther Wolf in Money, Mississippi in or around 1887.
No official record of his birth has ever been uncovered,
and only a rough estimation of his age at time of
death gives us this date. Of his parents we know little,
but records of land holdings exist among many from
the years of Reconstruction, and from these we were
able to begin to piece together a family history.
Further, a land deed in the name of one Barnabus Benjamin
and Eleanor Kate Wolf, willed by one Romulus T. Lupine,
was found in the Leflore County Archives. But only
these two facts remained, a small testament to the
life of B.B. Wolf and his family. These two only,
that is, until the well, if not accurately, documented
events of 1920. We all know the story. A story of
misguided rage, unspeakable murder, and the eventual
fall of a lost and tortured soul. Nearly a dozen deaths
were attributed to the hands of B.B. Wolf, a seemingly
simple and unassuming farmer and family man. Worse,
among the murdered were his wife and children. Many
could not fathom the direness of his actions, the
depravity of a mind capable of such dastardly deeds.
But the facts seemed to speak against him and, despite
protestations from many of B.B.’s neighbors
and surviving family, Mr. Wolf was found to be wanting
by a jury of his ‘peers’, and put to death
by electrocution late in the fall of 1920. For most
this put to rest a dark nightmare. Justice, it seemed,
had been served. And for those for whom justice had
certainly miscarried, well, it is simply said that
the cards were stacked squarely against them. The
same system that had brought B.B. to a swift, if not
righteous, justice, would also ensure the silencing
of any dissenting voice to the contrary. Right or
wrong, the life of B.B. Wolf had come to an end. And
as the victors wrote, it was most certainly right.
And
so it was written, and so the world believed. The
legend of B.B. Wolf, murderer, was born. And lost
was the truth of who B.B. Wolf was, and the influence
he had during the early, formative years of the American
Blues movement.
 Wolf
was a pioneer in the region and style that would become
known as the Mississippi Delta Blues. Though many
contest the presence of any substantial differences
in music originating in the region, the characteristics
commonly sited, the use of a bottleneck slide, the
emphasis on rhythm, the wailing harmonica and soulful
vocals, are certainly heard in these early recordings.
With the discovery of these lost tracks, recorded
nearly a decade before the first major recording of
a Delta Blues artist, the influence B.B. Wolf had
on such Blues greats as Big Dog Williams, Garfield
Barkers, Willie Browncoat, Snoopy Pryor, Hound Dog
Taylor, and Howlin’ Wolf (no known relation),
is clearly seen.
 ne
can only speculate the further contributions he could
have made to the form. His body of work is but a handful
of songs contained in these recording, but his legend
is now immense, and his life, for many, finally vindicated.
Through research into the lost blues legend, I have
uncovered never before seen letters leading me to
B.B.’s descendants, one surviving grandson and
many great-grand children. Interviews with his family,
supported by documents retrieved from the Leflore
County Archives have led me to believe in the innocence
of B.B. Wolf. Further details and my complete notes
pertaining to the false conviction of B.B. Wolf can
be found in my book The Delta Runs Red. But I do feel
it necessary here to thank B.B.’s grandson,
Clifford J. Wolf, the director of the Leflore County
Historical Society Margaret Bowers, and documentarian
Kenneth Bacon, among so many others, for their invaluable
assistance with my research.
also need to thank the blues community within this
country. They are too numerous to list, but have been
nothing but willing to finally bring the truth of
B.B. Wolf to light. His life had become a fable, an
oral tradition passed down through generations. A
tale told and kept alive in the bars, juke joints,
and blues clubs scattered across this land. Born of
truth but believed by most now to be a parable, a
metaphor for the all too familiar struggle of the
Wolf. And powerful as the metaphor can be, the community,
the world, has gained something ever more profound.
The truth. The peace this has brought to the family
of Mr. Wolf is immeasurable. The importance it holds
to the family of Bluesmen who carry his legacy will
surely come to light in the coming years. The courts
of Leflore County have yet to overturn what was certainly
a false verdict, condemning an innocent Wolf to death
in the summer of 1920. We can only hope this final
act of vindication comes in our lifetime.
 ut
for now, sit back, listen, and enjoy. Enjoy for the
first time in nearly 90 years the pioneering genius
that was B.B. Wolf. The driving rhythms of his guitar
(known now to be called Molly), the soulful wails
of the harmonica, and his voice, like velvet crushed
under gravel, revealing a sadness deep and profound.
We are blessed to have his music with us once again,
a true piece of American history, returned to its
rightful place in our collective consciousness, and
are humbly proud to admit his innocence into
the same.
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