The words of one of this famous musician song could very well been his epitaph .. oh why was I so soon forgotten ...James A. "Jimmy" Bland, the greatest Black writer of American Folk Song composed over seven hundred songs, a number of which were outright contributions to Americana. You might not know this name but you probably know a few of his songs Most famous in this era is “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny.” which was the official state song of Virginia from 1940 to 1997 Unfortunately, there don’t seem to be any recordings of Bland performing his songs, but many have been covered by other artists like Ray Charles, Bing Crosby, and Louis Armstrong.