Barbecue Bob, the author and singer of “Bad Time Blues” got his name from the chicken shack he used to work in where he sometimes serenaded customers. He played bottle neck 12 string guitar and often performed with his brother, Charlie Hicks. His first record, “Barbecue Blues” sold over 15,000 copies. He recorded over 70 sides for Columbia Records before dying of pneumonia in 1931.

“Bad Time Blues” takes a very sardonic look at living conditions during the Depression years in Atlanta where he was from.