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Lead Belly
Library of Congress archive photograph — photographer unrecorded/unknown (Wikimedia Commons, public domain)
Delta

Lead Belly

This artist is no longer with us.
Born: c. January 1888–January 1889 (sources disagree), near Mooringsport, Louisiana · Died: December 6, 1949, New York City (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)• United States
Country BluesFolk Blues
Instruments
12-string Stella guitar, Accordion, Voice
Labels
ARC, Library of Congress, RCA Victor, Folkways
from
Louisiana / Texas
Born
c. January 1888–January 1889 (sources disagree), near Mooringsport, Louisiana
Huddie William Ledbetter spent time in two different state penitentiaries for two different violent crimes, sang his way out of at least one of them, and still ended up, by the end of his life, as one of the most foundational figures in American folk and blues music — a man George Harrison once said the Beatles wouldn't have existed without (Kilde: Wikipedia). He was born near Mooringsport, Louisiana, to Sallie Brown and Wesley Ledbetter — the exact date is genuinely unsettled, with sources ranging from January 1888 to January 1889 depending on which census or draft card you trust (Kilde: Wikipedia). He married young, around 1908, to Aletha "Lethe" Henderson, and spent his early adulthood working the same rough Texas circuit as Blind Lemon Jefferson, with whom he travelled and busked in Dallas's Deep Ellum district (Kilde: Wikipedia). His criminal record is central to his story and not something to skip past. In 1918, under the assumed name "Walter Boyd," he was convicted of murdering a relative, Will Stafford, in Sugar Land, Texas, and sentenced to 30 years. He won an early release in 1925 after writing a personal clemency song directly to Texas Governor Pat Morris Neff — though prison officials at the time attributed the release to ordinary good behavior rather than the song itself (Kilde: Wikipedia). Free for only a few years, he was convicted again in 1930, this time in Louisiana for attempted homicide after a stabbing, and sent to the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. It was at Angola, in July 1934, that folklorist John Lomax and his teenage son Alan — on a Library of Congress field-recording trip — found and recorded him. He was released from Angola on August 1, 1934; historians have since found no solid evidence that the Lomaxes' recordings or petition actually caused the release, which state records suggest was a routine result of good behavior, but the myth that he sang his way to freedom twice has proven hard to kill (Kilde: Wikipedia). From September to December 1934, Ledbetter toured the South with John Lomax collecting folk songs, and arrived in New York on January 1, 1935, where he suddenly became a sensation on the white folk-revival circuit — a Black ex-convict billed, uncomfortably, in period newspapers as a "murderous minstrel." The partnership with Lomax collapsed by March 1935 amid disputes over money and control; Ledbetter later sued him and won release from the management contract and a fuller share of his own earnings (Kilde: Wikipedia). He recorded across a run of labels through the following decade — American Record Corporation in 1935, RCA Victor in 1940 (including the landmark album The Midnight Special and Other Southern Prison Songs), and Moses Asch's Folkways label through the early 1940s. His instrument was a distinctive twelve-string Stella guitar, tuned down and played with a driving thumb-picked bass line that most guitarists of the era simply couldn't replicate (Kilde: Wikipedia). He married his second wife, Martha Promise, in February 1935, and remained based in New York for the rest of his life. Diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis during a 1949 European tour, he died in New York on December 6, 1949, and was buried at the cemetery of Shiloh Baptist Church near Mooringsport, Louisiana, the community he'd left as a young man (Kilde: Wikipedia). Less than a year after his death, the Weavers' cover of his "Goodnight, Irene" went to number one on the American charts — a hit he never lived to see.

Musical Influence

Lead Belly's fingerprints are everywhere in postwar popular music, often several steps removed. Lonnie Donegan's 1955 cover of "Rock Island Line" ignited the British skiffle craze — and George Harrison later put it bluntly: "if there was no Lead Belly, there would have been no Lonnie Donegan; no Lonnie Donegan, no Beatles." Bob Dylan named a Lead Belly record as the thing that changed his life, in his own words, in his 2016 Nobel Prize lecture. And in 1993, Kurt Cobain closed Nirvana's MTV Unplugged set with a searing cover of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night," introducing Lead Belly to an entirely new generation who had no idea they were listening to a song that predated their grandparents (Kilde: Wikipedia).

Influences

Blind Lemon Jefferson

Family and personal life

Parents
Sallie Brown & Wesley Ledbetter

From the Mooringsport, Louisiana area.

First wife
Aletha "Lethe" Henderson

Married c. 1908.

Second wife
Martha Promise

Married February 1935; remained his wife until his death in 1949.

Formative experiences

  • •c. 1908: Married Aletha "Lethe" Henderson; began travelling and busking in Texas with Blind Lemon Jefferson. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
  • •1918: Convicted of murder under the assumed name "Walter Boyd" in Sugar Land, Texas; sentenced to 30 years. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
  • •1925: Released early after writing a clemency song to Texas Governor Pat Morris Neff. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
  • •1930: Convicted of attempted homicide in Louisiana; sent to Angola State Penitentiary. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
  • •July 1934: Recorded by John and Alan Lomax at Angola for the Library of Congress. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
  • •January 1, 1935: Arrived in New York and became a sensation on the folk-revival circuit. (Kilde: Wikipedia)

Instruments & Equipment

Guitar

Twelve-string Stella guitar
1930s–1949

Unusually long scale length requiring a trapeze tailpiece; strings typically tuned down, played with a driving thumb-picked bass line inspired by barrelhouse piano.

Other

Accordion, piano, mandolin, harmonica, violin

Multi-instrumentalist; the accordion in particular features in his best-known 1940s photographs.

Stories & Anecdotes

"Wrote a personal clemency song directly to Texas Governor Pat Morris Neff, asking for release — he was freed the following year, though officials credited good behavior rather than the song itself. (Kilde: Wikipedia)"
"A 1938 recording of "Scottsboro Boys" captured him warning listeners to "best stay woke, keep their eyes open" — possibly the earliest audio recording of the phrase "stay woke." (Kilde: Wikipedia)"
"George Harrison credited him as the reason the Beatles existed at all, via the Lonnie Donegan skiffle chain reaction. (Kilde: Wikipedia)"

Collaborators

Blind Lemon Jefferson

Travelling and busking partner in Dallas's Deep Ellum district before either had a record contract.

John & Alan Lomax

Folklorists who recorded him at Angola Penitentiary in 1934 for the Library of Congress and later managed/toured with him — the partnership ended in dispute by 1935.

Watch & Listen

Featured

Lead Belly Sings "Goodnight Irene"

His signature song, later a #1 hit for The Weavers in 1950, less than a year after his death.

King Rose Archives

Lead Belly - Midnight Special

Lead Belly - Midnight Special

Lead Belly - "Rock Island Line"

Lead Belly - "Rock Island Line"

Watch & Listen

Henter videoer fra YouTube…

Discography

YearTitleProducerStudioLabelChartSalesMusiciansYouTubeNotes
1935American Record Corporation session, New YorkARC—American Record Corporation———January 23–25, 1935 — of 53 takes recorded, only 6 were released during his lifetime. Solo.
1940The Midnight Special and Other Southern Prison SongsRCA Victor—RCA Victor——The Golden Gate Quartet (Vocal harmony)Landmark album; several tracks feature the a cappella gospel group the Golden Gate Quartet alongside his own twelve-string guitar.
1944Rock Island Line sessionMoses Asch / Folkways—Folkways———One of several 1940s sessions for Moses Asch's Folkways label, New York. Solo.

Famous songs

01Goodnight, Irene
02Rock Island Line
03Midnight Special
04Where Did You Sleep Last Night
05Cotton Fields

External links

YouTube Music Wikipedia

Sources

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