"Ain't No More Cane on The Brazos" is a traditional prison work song. The title refers to work assigned to prisoners sentenced to hard labor in Texas. The labor involved cutting sugar cane along the banks of the Brazos River, where many of the state's prison farms were located in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Plantations in the "sugarland" region along the lower Brazos leased convicts for labor, expecially in the late fall when the cane was ripe. John and Ruby Lomax collected the song for the Smithsonian from Mose "Clear Rock" Platt in Taylor, Texas, May 10, 1939. The song is sometimes attributed to Huddie Ledbetter (Lead Belly), but the song possibly became associated with Lead Belly through his various recordings of another Texas prison song "Go Down, Ol' Hannah". which shares some verses with "Ain't No More Cane on the Brazos" as does the railroad work gang song "Linin' Track". The melody given here is approximate and would be much more fluid in traditional use. As with most work songs, the tempo and rhythm vary with the job, the weather conditions and the singer. The lyrics given here are from John and Alan Lomax's Favorite American Folk Songs (1947).