“White House Blues” is a topical song about the killing of President William McKinley, shot by the anarchist Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo in 1901. Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers made the first known recording in 1926, and the song spread quickly among country and bluegrass performers.
The song moves at a gallop through the events of the assassination — the shooting, the doctors, the train carrying the dying president, McKinley’s death and Roosevelt’s rise — in compressed, jolting verses. Its breakneck pace makes a stark contrast with the grim story it tells.
The song became a bluegrass favorite, recorded by Doc Watson, the Stanley Brothers, and others.