
Pete Hogwallop (1903-) was an American criminal-turned-musician from Mississippi. In July 1937, he and his fellow chain gang members Ulysses Everett McGill and Delmar O'Donnell escaped from prison after McGill persuaded to join him by promising to lead them to a nonexistent treasure; his true motive was preventing his ex-wife from remarrying to the political campaigner Vernon T. Waldrip. During the trio's odyssey, they were briefly welcomed and then betrayed by Pete's cousin Wash Hogwallop, met the blues musician Tommy Johnson and accepted a gig as the "Soggy Bottom Boys" band, recording the sleeper hit "Man of Constant Sorrow" before being forced to continue their flight. Their adventure also saw them rescue Pete after he was kidnapped by seductive women and returned to prison; they were mugged by the Bible salesman Big Dan Teague; and they had a run-in with the Klan and their Grand Dragon, Homer Stokes, while rescuing Johnson from a lynch mob (nearly being killed after Teague recognized them, and escaping after toppling a burning cross onto Teague). The quartet arrived at Canton just in time to interrupt Wharvey's wedding to McGill, disguising themselves as bearded musical performers and winning acclaim for playing "Man of Constant Sorrow". Stokes remembered them from the Klan rally and attempted to turn the crowd against the men for interrupting his lynch mob, admitting his Klan involvement, and Waldrip also revealed that the band members were fugitives. However, the crowd grew angry at Stokes for interrupting the popular band's performance, and they booed Stokes and ran him out of town on a rod. Governor Menelaus O'Daniel, taking advantage of the band's popularity, announced that they were pardoned for their crimes and appointed them to his "brain trust" in exchange for their endorsement. Now in positions of power, the band returned to their lives as free men, and McGill remarried his former wife, who fell in love with him again.