Songfacts®:

• Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies tells the stories of several different American outlaws and gunslingers of the 19th century. This song tells the tale of the gentleman highwayman who wrote poems for the people he robbed on Wells Fargo stagecoaches in California and Oregon between 1875 and 1883. Black Bart was actually terrified of horses, so he committed all of his robberies on foot. "He was always a character I wanted to write about, but it had to be at the appropriate time," Volbeat vocalist and guitarist Michael Poulsen told BraveWords.com. "Since at least half of the album has those inspirations from western soundtracks, it was about time to bring him to life. He fit the title so well, because he was an outlaw gentleman; he's one of my favourite characters on the album."
• Poulsen told Classic Rock magazine why he chose to write about this particular highwayman. "Black Bart was definitely one of the most interesting and he always left that poem after robbing the stagecoach," he said. "We all know Doc Holliday so I wanted to bring in one character that people could see and think 'yeah, we know that guy.' I didn't want to bring in Billy The Kid and Wyatt Earp or people like that because while they are interesting, I don't think we need another story about them."