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Lead Belly

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Huddie William "Lead Belly" Ledbetter
Image:Leadbelly.jpg
Born January 23,1888
Mooringsport, Louisiana, U.S.A.
Died December 6, 1949
New York City, New York, U.S.A.
Genre(s) Blues, Folk
Years active 1936 - 1949
Official site http://www.leadbelly.org/
For the film, see Leadbelly (film).

Huddie William Ledbetter (January 23, 1888 - December 6, 1949) was an American folk and blues musician, notable for his clear and forceful singing, his virtuosity on the twelve string guitar, and the rich songbook of folk standards he introduced. He is best known as Leadbelly or Lead Belly (see below).

Although his most commonly-played instrument was the twelve string, he could also play the piano, mandolin, harmonica, violin, concertina, and accordion. In some of his recordings, such as in one of his versions of the folk ballad "John Hardy", he performs on the accordion instead of the guitar.

The topics of Lead Belly's music covered a wide range of subjects, including gospel songs, blues songs about women, liquor, racism, folk songs about cowboys, prison, work, sailors, cattle herding, dancing, and songs concerning the newsmakers of the day, such as President Franklin Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler, the Scottsboro Boys, and multi-millionaire Howard Hughes.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Image:Leadbelly sitting.jpg Lead Belly's date of birth was once a matter of debate. The earliest year had been given at 1885, although other sources stated either 1888 or 1889. This debate no longer exists. According to the 1900 census, Hudy (the spelling given in the census) is one of two listed children (the other is his step-sister, Australia Carr), of Wes and Sallie (Brown) Ledbetter of Justice Precinct 2, Harrison County, Texas. Wesley and Sallie were legally wed shortly after Lead Belly's birth, on February 26, 1888, even though they had lived together as husband and wife for years. The 1900 census, differing from the usual census in that it lists the month and year of birth, rather than just the age, states the birth year of Hudy Ledbetter to be 1888 and the month listed as January; Hudy's age is listed as twelve. The census of 1910 and the census of 1930 (Huddie was an inmate at the time of this census) confirm 1888 as the year of birth. It is also debated on what day he was born. The most common date given is January 20, but other sources suggest he was born on January 21 or 29. None of these 'sources', in turn, document their sources. The only document we have that Huddie Ledbetter, himself, helped fill out is his World War II Draft registration in 1942. He gives his birthdate as January 23, 1889. It is a common occurrence for people to grow up not knowing or remembering their birth-year; it is also common to miscalculate one's birthyear. Time in prison and periods of time on the road without celebrations would have likely been additional cause for confusion for Lead Belly in remembering his age. People seldom forget their birthday, however. There does not appear to have been any reason for Lead Belly to have written January 23 on such an important document if he did not believe it to be accurate. Thus, according to the best genealogical evidence, he was born January 23, 1888.

In any case, Lead Belly was born to Wesley and Sallie Ledbetter as Huddie William Ledbetter in a plantation near Mooringsport, Louisiana, but the family moved to nearby Leigh, Texas, when he was five. At the time of the 1910 census, Huddie, still listed as Hudy, was living next door to his parents with his first wife, Aletha "Lethe" Henderson, who at the time of the census was seventeen years old, and was, therefore, fifteen at the time of their mariage in 1908. It was also there that he received his first instrument, an accordion, from his uncle, and by his early 20s, after fathering at least two children, he left home to find his living as a guitarist (and occasionally, as a laborer). Lead Belly would later claim that as a youth he would "make it" with 8 to 10 women a night.

[edit] Prison years

Lead Belly's boastful spirit and penchant for the occasional skirmish sometimes led him into trouble with the law, and in 1918 he was thrown into a Texas prison for the second time, this time after killing a man in a fight. It is said that he was released seven years into his twenty year sentence after writing a song appealing to Governor Pat Morris Neff for his freedom, but this is a legend; Lead Belly was actually released early due to good behavior.

In 1930, Lead Belly was back in prison, this time in Louisiana for attempted homicide. It was there, three years later, that he was "discovered" by musicologists John and Alan Lomax, who were enchanted by his talent, passion and singularity as a performer, and recorded hundreds of his songs on portable recording equipment for the Library of Congress. The following year Lead Belly was once again pardoned, this time after a petition for his early release was taken to Louisiana Governor O.K. Allen by the Lomaxes (it was on the other side of a recording of one of his most popular songs, "Goodnight Irene"). However, there is no proof that this is why Allen released Lead Belly, and it is thought he released him because of good behavior.

Lead Belly acquired his nickname while he was in prison; his fellow inmates dubbed him "Lead Belly" as a play on his last name and a testament to his physical toughness. For instance, when one of the inmates tried to cut his head off with a knife during his second prison term, he took the knife away and almost killed his attacker with it in turn. He then used the nickname as a pseudonym when he was recording, and the name stuck ever since.

[edit] Life after prison

Image:Leadbelly with Accordeon.jpg Indebted to the Lomaxes, Lead Belly allowed Alan to take him under his wing, and in late 1934 migrated to New York City with him, where he attained fame, though not fortune. In 1935 he married Martha Promise and began recording with the American Record Corporation, but achieved little commercial success with these records (in part because the company insisted he record blues songs rather than the folk for which he was better known), and the couple struggled financially. In 1939 he was back in jail for assault.

Upon his release in 1940, Lead Belly returned to a surging New York folk scene, and befriended the likes of Woody Guthrie and a young Pete Seeger. During the first half of the decade he recorded for RCA, the Library of Congress, and for Moe Asch (future founder of Folkways Records), and in 1944 headed to California, where he recorded strong sessions for Capitol Records. In 1949 he began his first European tour, but fell ill before its completion, and was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease. Lead Belly died later that year in New York City, and was buried in the Shiloh Baptist Church cemetery, 8 miles west of Blanchard, Louisiana, in Caddo Parish.

[edit] Musical legacy

Lead Belly's vast songbook, much of which he adapted from previous sources, has provided material for numerous folk, country, pop and rock acts since his time, including Seeger's band The Weavers (who had a hit with "Goodnight Irene" the year after Lead Belly's death), The Animals (who had a hit with "The House of the Rising Sun" in 1964), Creedence Clearwater Revival (who recorded a popular version of "Midnight Special" in 1969), and Kurt Cobain (who covered "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" in 1993 to close Nirvana's MTV Unplugged performance). Nirvana's 2004 box set With The Lights Out contained 4 Lead Belly covers: a solo acoustic home demo of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night," a solo electric guitar version of "They Hung Him On A Cross," and full band versions of "Ain't It A Shame" and "Grey Goose," the latter of which was instrumental. Mark Lanegan also covered "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" for his album The Winding Sheet (1990), with Kurt Cobain participating with guitar and backing vocals. Davy Graham covered "Leavin' Blues", The Rolling Stones adapted "The Bourgeois Blues" for "When The Whip Comes Down". Lead Belly has also been covered by Ry Cooder, Lonnie Donegan, Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead, Johnny Cash, Gene Autry, The Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin, Billy Childish (who even named his son Huddie), Mungo Jerry, Paul King, Michelle Shocked, British Sea Power, Rod Stewart, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The White Stripes, and The Fall, among many others. Lead Belly has been mentioned in songs by Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Pearl Jam, Old Crow Medicine Show, The Dead Milkmen and Stone Temple Pilots. Seeger wrote a song about Lead Belly. Nigel Blackwell impersonates Lead Belly in the Half Man Half Biscuit song "24 Hour Garage People".

[edit] Film

A Lead Belly biopic, titled Leadbelly, was released in 1976. It was directed by Gordon Parks, and stars Roger E. Mosley in the title role. The film chronicles Lead Belly's life until his final release from prison.

[edit] "Lead Belly" versus "Leadbelly"

Though many releases list him as "Leadbelly," the correct spelling is actually "Lead Belly." This is the way he wrote his nickname, and it is also the way that his nickname is listed on his tombstone [1][2], as well as the Lead Belly Foundation and various LP/CD releases (most notably his recordings for Folkways, for example Lead Belly's Last Sessions and Where Did You Sleep Last Night).

[edit] Songs

Image:LeadBelly Shreveport.jpg

  • "Ain't Goin Down the Well No More"
  • "Ain't Gonna Drink No More"
  • "Ain't Gonna Study War No More"
  • "Ain't It a Shame"
  • "Alabama Bound"
  • "Alberta"
  • "Amazing Grace"
  • "Backslider, Fare thee Well"
  • "Backwater Blues"
  • "Becky Dean"
  • "Big Fat Woman"
  • "Birmingham Jail"
  • "Black Betty"
  • "Blind Lemon Blues"
  • "Blue Tail Fly"
  • "Blues Around New York"
  • "The Boll Weevil"
  • "Borrow Love & Go"
  • "The Bourgeois Blues"
  • "Bring Me Little Water Silvy"
  • "Careless Love"
  • "C.C. Rider"
  • "Cotton Fields"
  • "Death Letter Blues" (Parts 1&2)
  • "Dance Calls"
  • "Dekalb Blues"
  • "Down in the Valley to Pray"
  • "Easy Rider"
  • "Ella Speed"
  • "Fannin Street"
  • "Fiddlers Dram"
  • "Frankie and Albert" (Trad.)
  • "The Gallows Pole"
  • "Get Up in the Mornin'"
  • "Git on Board"
  • "Go Down Old Hannah"
  • "Good Morning Blues"
  • "Governor O.K. Allen"
  • "Governor Pat Neff"
  • "Green Corn"
  • "Grey Goose"
  • "Good Good Good"
  • "Goodnight Irene"
  • "Gwine Dig a Hole to Put Devil In"
  • "Heaeh Mountain Stomp"
  • "The Hindenburg Disaster" (Parts 1&2)
  • "Howard Hughes"
  • "If it Wasn't for Dicky"
  • "I'm on My Last go Round"
  • "I'm Sorry, Mama"
  • "In New Orleans (House of the Rising Sun)"
  • "Jean Harlow"
  • "John Hardy"
  • "John Henry"
  • "Join the Band"
  • "Julie Ann Johnson"
  • "Keep Your Hands Off Her"
  • "Leaving Blues"
  • "Let it Shine on Me"
  • "Line Em"
  • "Looky Looky Yonder"
  • "Medicine Man"
  • "Mother's Blues"
  • "The Midnight Special"
  • "Mr. Hitler"
  • "Must I be Carried into the Sky"
  • "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen"
  • "New York City"
  • "Noted (No Good) Rider"
  • "Oh, Something on My Mind"
  • "Old Rattler"
  • "Old Time Religion"
  • "On a Christmas Day"
  • "On a Monday"
  • "Outshine the Sun"
  • "Packing Trunk Blues"
  • "Pick a Bale of Cotton"
  • "Poor Howard"
  • "Prayer"
  • "Pretty Flowers in My Backyard"
  • "Red River"
  • "Ride On"
  • "Roberta"
  • "Rock Island Line"
  • "The Roosevelt Song"
  • "Run Sinners"
  • "Sail On, Little Girl, Sail On"
  • "The Scottsboro Boys"
  • "Stand your Test in Judgement"
  • "Sweet Mary Blues"
  • "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"
  • "Take a Whiff on Me"
  • "Take this Hammer"
  • "TB Blues"
  • "Tell me Baby"
  • "They Hung Him on a Cross"
  • "The Titanic"
  • "Turn your Radio On"
  • "Western Plain"
  • "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" ("Black Girl")
  • "When I was a Cowboy"
  • "When the Boys Were Out on the Western Plains"
  • "When the Train Comes Along"
  • "Whoa Back Buck"
  • "Yellow Gal"
  • "Yellow Womans Doorbells"
  • "You Can't Lose-A Me Cholly"
  • "You Don't Know my Mind"
  • "You Must Have that Religion, Halleloo"

[edit] Selected discography

[edit] The Library of Congress recordings

Lead Belly's complete Library of Congress recordings, done by John and Alan Lomax from 1934 to 1943, were released in a six volume series by Rounder Records in the early-to-mid 1990s:

  • Midnight Special (1991, Rounder Records)
  • Gwine Dig a Hole to Put the Devil In (1991, Rounder Records)
  • Let It Shine on Me (1991, Rounder Records)
  • The Titanic (1994, Rounder Records)
  • Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen (1994, Rounder Records)
  • Go Down Old Hannah (1995, Rounder Records)

[edit] Other compilations

Image:Leadbelly with his Guitar.jpg

  • Huddie Ledbetter's Best (1989, BGO Records) - contains Lead Belly's recordings made for Capitol Records in 1944 in California.
  • King of the 12-String Guitar (1991, Sony/ Legacy Records) - a collection of blues songs and prison ballads recorded in 1935 in New York City for the American Record Company, including previously unreleased alternate takes.
  • Lead Belly's Last Sessions (1994, Smithsonian Folkways) - a four disc box set containing Lead Belly's final sessions, recorded in late 1948 in New York City. These were his only commercial recordings done on magnetic tape.
  • Lead Belly Sings for Children (1999, Smithsonian Folkways) - includes the 1960 Folkways album Negro Folk Songs for Young People in its entirety, and five of the six tracks from the 1941 album Play Parties in Song and Dance as Sung by Lead Belly, recorded for Moe Asch, as well as other songs recorded for Asch from 1941 to 1948, and one previously unreleased track, a radio broadcast of "Take this Hammer."
  • Private Party November 21, 1948 (2000, Document Records) - contains Lead Belly's intimate performance at a private party in late 1948 in Minneapolis.
  • Take This Hammer (2003, Smithsonian Folkways) - collects all 26 songs Lead Belly recorded for RCA in 1940, half of which feature the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet.

[edit] Samples

[edit] References

  • White, Gary; Stuart, David; Aviva, Elyn. "Music in Our World". 2001. ISBN 0070272123. (p. 196)

[edit] External links


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