Difference between revisions of "Lead Belly" - New World Encyclopedia

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{{for|the film|Leadbelly (film)}}
 
{{for|the film|Leadbelly (film)}}
  
'''Huddie William Ledbetter''' (January 23, 1888 - December 6, 1949) was an [[United States|American]] [[folk music|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 [[#"Lead Belly" versus "Leadbelly"|below]]).
+
'''Huddie William Ledbetter''' (January 23, 1888 - December 6, 1949), better known as '''Leadbelly''', was an [[United States|American]] [[folk music|folk]] and [[blues]] [[musician]], notable for his clear and forceful singing, his powerful use of the [[twelve string guitar|12-string guiatar]], and the rich songbook of folk standards he introduced.
  
Although he most commonly played 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 (song)|"John Hardy"]], he performs on the accordion instead of the guitar.
+
In addition to the 12-string and six-string guitar, he could also play the [[piano]], [[mandolin]], [[harmonica]], [[violin]], [[concertina]], and [[accordion]]. One of the first well known U.S. singers of topical songs Leadbetter became particularly popular among trade unionists and the left-wing folk music culture of fellow musicians and friends such as [[Pete Seeger]], [[Woodie Guthrie]], and others.
  
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 [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|President Franklin Roosevelt]], [[Adolf Hitler]], the [[Scottsboro Boys]], and multi-millionaire [[Howard Hughes]].
+
The topics of Leadbelly's music covered a wide range of subjects, including gospel, blues, songs, about women, liquor, racism, cowboys, prison, work, sailors, cattle herding, dancing, and the newsmakers of the day, such as [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|President Franklin Roosevelt]], [[Adolf Hitler]], the [[Scottsboro Boys]], and multi-millionaire [[Howard Hughes]].  
  
 
==Biography==
 
==Biography==
===Lead Belly's Birthday===
 
 
[[Image:Leadbelly sitting.jpg|thumb|210px|Lead Belly playing his [[twelve string guitar]].]]
 
[[Image:Leadbelly sitting.jpg|thumb|210px|Lead Belly playing his [[twelve string guitar]].]]
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; Huddie'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.
+
===Early Life===
 +
Once a matter of debate, Huddie Ledbetter's birthday is now generally thought to be January 23, based mainly on his [[World War II]] Draft registration of 1942, he, himself, helped fill out. The year of his birth is more contentions. He gave his birthdate as 1889 on that occasion, but other genealogical evidence suggests he was born January 23, 1888.
  
===Early Life===
+
In any case, Lead Belly was born to Wesley and Sallie Ledbetter as Huddie William Ledbetter on a [[plantation]] near [[Mooringsport, Louisiana|Mooringsport]], [[Louisiana]]. The family moved to Leigh, [[Texas]], when he was five. It was here that he received his first instrument, an [[accordion]], from his uncle. By 1903, Lead Belly was already a "musicaner," a singer and guitarist of some note.  He performed for nearby [[Shreveport]], Louisiana audiences in St. Paul's Bottom, a notorious redlight district in the city. He began to develop his own style of music after exposure to a variety of musical influences on Shreveport's Fannin Street, a row of saloons, brothels, and dance halls in the Bottom.
In any case, Lead Belly was born to Wesley and Sallie Ledbetter as Huddie William Ledbetter in a [[plantation]] near [[Mooringsport, Louisiana|Mooringsport]], [[Louisiana]], but the family moved to Leigh, [[Texas]], when he was five. By 1903, Lead Belly was already a 'musicaner', a singer and guitarist of some note.  He performed for nearby [[Shreveport]], Louisiana audiences in St. Paul's Bottom, a notorious redlight district in the city. Lead Belly began to develop his own style of music after exposure to a variety of musical influences on Shreveport's Fannin Street, a row of saloons, brothels, and dance halls in the Bottom.
 
  
At the time of the 1910 census, Lead Belly, still officially 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 marriage 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.
+
At the time of the 1910 census, he still officially listed as "Hudy," and was living next door to his parents with his first wife, Aletha "Lethe" Henderson, who was then 17 years old, and would have been 15 at the time of their marriage in 1908. 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). On the road, he was anything but faithful to his wife and  would later brag that as a youth he would "make it" with 8 to 10 women a night.
  
 
===Prison years===
 
===Prison years===
Lead Belly's boastful spirit and penchant for the occasional skirmish sometimes led him into trouble with the law, and in January 1918 he was thrown into a [[Dallas, Texas|Dallas]], [[Texas]] prison for the second time, this time after killing one of his relatives, Will Stafford, 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. Lead Belly had swayed governor Pat Neff by appealing to Neff's strong religious values. That, dubbed in combination with good behavior (Including entertaining by playing for the guards and fellow prisoners), was Ledbetter's ticket out of jail.
+
Lead Belly's boastful spirit and penchant for the occasional skirmish sometimes led him into trouble with the law, and in January 1918 he was imprisoned in [[Dallas, Texas|Dallas]], [[Texas]] for the second time, after killing one of his relatives, Will Stafford, in a fight. In prison, he enterained guards and fellow prisoners with his playing and singing and thus won high marks for good behavior. He was released seven years into his 20-year sentence, reportedly after writing a song appealing to Governor [[Pat Morris Neff]] for his freedom and by appealing to Neff's strong religious values.  
 +
 
 +
:::Please, Governor Neff, Be good 'n' kind
 +
:::Have mercy on my great long time...
 +
:::I don't see to save my soul
 +
:::If I don't get a pardon, try me on a parole...
 +
:::If I had you, Governor Neff, like you got me
 +
:::I'd wake up in the mornin' and I'd set you free
  
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 [[Musicology|musicologists]] [[John Lomax|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 [[Oscar K. Allen|O.K. Allen]] by the Lomaxes (it was on the other side of a recording of one of his most popular songs, "[[Goodnight Irene]]"). But records show he was released due to good behavior, and mention nothing of the song.
+
In 1930, Lead Belly was back in prison, this time in [[Louisiana]] for attempted [[homicide]]. Three years later, that he was "discovered" by [[Musicology|musicologists]] [[John Lomax|John]] and [[Alan Lomax]], who were enchanted by his talent, passion, and singularity as a performer. They 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 [[Oscar K. Allen|O.K. Allen]] by the Lomaxes.
  
Ledbetter first acquired his famous 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 stab him in the neck (which left him with a scar) 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.
+
Ledbetter acquired his famous 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 stab him in the neck (which left him with a scar) during his second prison term, he took the knife away and almost killed his attacker with it in turn. He later used the nickname as a pseudonym when he was recording, and the name stuck ever since.
  
 
===Life after prison===
 
===Life after prison===
 
[[Image:Leadbelly with Accordeon.jpg|thumb|210px|Lead Belly playing an [[accordion]].]]
 
[[Image:Leadbelly with Accordeon.jpg|thumb|210px|Lead Belly playing an [[accordion]].]]
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]] (ARC), but achieved little commercial success with these records.  Part of the reason for the poor record sales may have been because ARC insisted he record [[blues]] songs rather than the folk for which he was better known, in any case, Lead Belly continued to struggle financially. In 1939 he was back in jail for assault.
+
Indebted to the Lomaxes, Lead Belly allowed Alan Lomax to take him under his wing. In late 1934 he migrated to [[New York City]] with Lomax, where he attained fame, though not fortune. In 1935 he married Martha Promise and began recording with the [[American Record Corporation]] (ARC). However, ARC insisted he record [[blues]] songs rather than the folk music with which he was more proficient. He  achieved little commercial success with these records and 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 [[Europe]]an 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 in Mooringsport, 8 miles west of [[Blanchard, Louisiana]], in [[Caddo Parish, Louisiana|Caddo Parish]].
+
Upon his release in 1940, Lead Belly returned to a surging New York folk scene, and befriended such early folk stars as [[Woody Guthrie]] and the young [[Pete Seeger]]. Their association would provide the former convict with an willing audience for his style of singing and playing, and he became a popular performer with New York and national folk audiences. During the first half of the decade, he recorded for [[RCA]], the [[Library of Congress]], and for [[Moe Asch]], the future founder of [[Folkways Records]]). In 1944, he headed to [[California]], where he recorded strong sessions for [[Capitol Records]]. In 1949 he began his first [[Europe]]an 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 in Mooringsport, 8 miles west of [[Blanchard, Louisiana]], in [[Caddo Parish, Louisiana|Caddo Parish]].
  
 
==Musical legacy==
 
==Musical legacy==

Revision as of 04:57, 3 August 2007


Huddie William "Lead Belly" Ledbetter
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/


Huddie William Ledbetter (January 23, 1888 - December 6, 1949), better known as Leadbelly, was an American folk and blues musician, notable for his clear and forceful singing, his powerful use of the 12-string guiatar, and the rich songbook of folk standards he introduced.

In addition to the 12-string and six-string guitar, he could also play the piano, mandolin, harmonica, violin, concertina, and accordion. One of the first well known U.S. singers of topical songs Leadbetter became particularly popular among trade unionists and the left-wing folk music culture of fellow musicians and friends such as Pete Seeger, Woodie Guthrie, and others.

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

Biography

Lead Belly playing his twelve string guitar.

Early Life

Once a matter of debate, Huddie Ledbetter's birthday is now generally thought to be January 23, based mainly on his World War II Draft registration of 1942, he, himself, helped fill out. The year of his birth is more contentions. He gave his birthdate as 1889 on that occasion, but other genealogical evidence suggests he was born January 23, 1888.

In any case, Lead Belly was born to Wesley and Sallie Ledbetter as Huddie William Ledbetter on a plantation near Mooringsport, Louisiana. The family moved to Leigh, Texas, when he was five. It was here that he received his first instrument, an accordion, from his uncle. By 1903, Lead Belly was already a "musicaner," a singer and guitarist of some note. He performed for nearby Shreveport, Louisiana audiences in St. Paul's Bottom, a notorious redlight district in the city. He began to develop his own style of music after exposure to a variety of musical influences on Shreveport's Fannin Street, a row of saloons, brothels, and dance halls in the Bottom.

At the time of the 1910 census, he still officially listed as "Hudy," and was living next door to his parents with his first wife, Aletha "Lethe" Henderson, who was then 17 years old, and would have been 15 at the time of their marriage in 1908. 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). On the road, he was anything but faithful to his wife and would later brag that as a youth he would "make it" with 8 to 10 women a night.

Prison years

Lead Belly's boastful spirit and penchant for the occasional skirmish sometimes led him into trouble with the law, and in January 1918 he was imprisoned in Dallas, Texas for the second time, after killing one of his relatives, Will Stafford, in a fight. In prison, he enterained guards and fellow prisoners with his playing and singing and thus won high marks for good behavior. He was released seven years into his 20-year sentence, reportedly after writing a song appealing to Governor Pat Morris Neff for his freedom and by appealing to Neff's strong religious values.

Please, Governor Neff, Be good 'n' kind
Have mercy on my great long time...
I don't see to save my soul
If I don't get a pardon, try me on a parole...
If I had you, Governor Neff, like you got me
I'd wake up in the mornin' and I'd set you free

In 1930, Lead Belly was back in prison, this time in Louisiana for attempted homicide. 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. They 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.

Ledbetter acquired his famous 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 stab him in the neck (which left him with a scar) during his second prison term, he took the knife away and almost killed his attacker with it in turn. He later used the nickname as a pseudonym when he was recording, and the name stuck ever since.

Life after prison

Lead Belly playing an accordion.

Indebted to the Lomaxes, Lead Belly allowed Alan Lomax to take him under his wing. In late 1934 he migrated to New York City with Lomax, where he attained fame, though not fortune. In 1935 he married Martha Promise and began recording with the American Record Corporation (ARC). However, ARC insisted he record blues songs rather than the folk music with which he was more proficient. He achieved little commercial success with these records and 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 such early folk stars as Woody Guthrie and the young Pete Seeger. Their association would provide the former convict with an willing audience for his style of singing and playing, and he became a popular performer with New York and national folk audiences. During the first half of the decade, he recorded for RCA, the Library of Congress, and for Moe Asch, the future founder of Folkways Records). In 1944, he 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 in Mooringsport, 8 miles west of Blanchard, Louisiana, in Caddo Parish.

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:

  • ABBA, who recorded both "Pick A Bale Of Cotton" and "Midnight Special"
  • Pete 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" and "Cotton Fields" in 1969)
  • Nirvana (who covered "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" in 1993 on their MTV Unplugged performance). Kurt Cobain prefaces the song by referring to Lead Belly as "my favorite performer... our favorite performer." Nirvana's 2004 box set With the Lights Out contains four Lead Belly covers: "Where Did You Sleep Last Night"; "They Hung Him On A Cross," "Ain't It A Shame" and "Grey Goose."
  • Mark Lanegan also covered "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" for his album The Winding Sheet (1990), with Kurt Cobain participating
  • Davy Graham covered "Leavin' Blues"
  • The Rolling Stones adapted "The Bourgeois Blues" for "When The Whip Comes Down."
  • Van Morrison's first performance as a child was "Good Night, Irene," and he later recorded the song with Lonnie Donegan. In the title track to Astral Weeks, Morrison alludes to meeting Huddie Ledbetter in heaven.
  • Bryan Ferry also covered "Good Night, Irene" for his album, "Frantic"
  • Lead Belly has also been covered by Ry Cooder, Lonnie Donegan, Grateful Dead, Johnny Cash, Gene Autry, The Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin, Billy Childish (who named his son Huddie), Mungo Jerry, Paul King, Michelle Shocked, Tom Waits, British Sea Power, Rod Stewart, Ernest Tubb, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Nirvana, The White Stripes, The Fall, Smog, and Raffi, among many others.
  • Lead Belly has been mentioned in songs by Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Pearl Jam, Old Crow Medicine Show, The Dead Milkmen, Bubbi Morthens (an Icelandic musician), Dulaney Banks and Stone Temple Pilots
  • Nigel Blackwell impersonates Lead Belly in the Half Man Half Biscuit song "24 Hour Garage People"
  • Led Zeppelin adapted 'Gallis Pole' into 'Gallows Pole' on their third album
  • Weddings Parties Anything have recorded 'Bourgouis Blues'
  • Rory Gallagher covered 'Western Plain', his version going by the title 'Out On The Western Plain'
  • The Los Angeles based punk rock group X recorded Lead Belly's "Dancin' With Tears In My Eyes" as a tribute to singer Exene Cervenka's sister Mary, who had been killed in a car crash earlier. The song appears on their 1982 album Under The Big Black Sun, most of the material of which was about Mary Cervenka's tragic, untimely death.

"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).

Songs

See: List of Lead Belly songs.

Selected discography

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)

Other compilations

Lead Belly during his last recording session in 1948.
  • 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.

Samples

  • Download a sample of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" from Wikimedia Commons
  • Color footage of LeadBelly singing "Pick a bale of Cotton": [3]

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • White, Gary; Stuart, David; Aviva, Elyn. "Music in Our World." 2001. ISBN 0-07-027212-3. (p. 196)

External links

Template:Blues

Credits

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