William Weldon cut more than 60 sides for Vocalion and Bluebird between 1927 and 1940, scored solo hits, and anchored sessions for Teddy Darby, Bumble Bee Slim and Peetie Wheatstraw. Then history deleted him: his birth date is disputed between February 2, 1901 and December 10, 1909, his identity was merged with a different musician, he was credited with marriages that never happened, and his grave sat unmarked for over 40 years. This episode is a historical rescue mission for the man known as Casey Bill Weldon, born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, who earned his nickname from a stop in Kansas City on his way north to Chicago during the Great Migration.

Weldon played a National steel guitar laid flat across his lap with a heavy slide, a Hawaiian technique that let him glide between notes in weeping glissandos that mimicked the human voice, earning  ...