Leadbelly Biography and Album Guide Video presents the life and music of the great blues/folk guitarist and singer, Huddie Ledbetter AKA, "Leadbelly."
Huddie William Ledbetter (December 6, 1949), better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folk and blues singer notable for his strong vocals, virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the folk standards he introduced, including his renditions of "In the Pines", "Pick a Bale of Cotton", "Goodnight, Irene", "Midnight Special", "Cotton Fields", and "Boll Weevil".
Lead Belly usually played a twelve-string guitar, but he also played the piano, mandolin, harmonica, violin, and windjammer. In some of his recordings, he sang while clapping his hands or stomping his foot.
Huddie William Ledbetter (December 6, 1949), better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folk and blues singer notable for his strong vocals, virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the folk standards he introduced, including his renditions of "In the Pines", "Pick a Bale of Cotton", "Goodnight, Irene", "Midnight Special", "Cotton Fields", and "Boll Weevil".
Lead Belly usually played a twelve-string guitar, but he also played the piano, mandolin, harmonica, violin, and windjammer. In some of his recordings, he sang while clapping his hands or stomping his foot.
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MusicTranscript
00:00Lead Belly is a legendary figure in both the fields of folk music and the blues.
00:10Lead Belly's life is the stuff of American popular legend.
00:15He was a hard man who was convicted of murder and spent much of his early adult life in prison.
00:23While in prison he worked in chain gangs doing hard labor.
00:30Lead Belly is remembered for his 12-string guitar virtuosity and his catalog of songs,
00:38both blues and folk, that he either wrote or collected on his travels in the early days of the 20th century.
00:48Among Lead Belly's most famous songs are the following.
00:52Good Night Irene, Black Betty, The Midnight Special, On a Monday, Pick a Bale of Cotton, Green Corn, and Stewball.
01:06Lead Belly was born Hootie Leadbetter in Mooringsport, Louisiana.
01:13By the time he was five years old, his family had settled in Bowie County, Texas.
01:20Lead Belly learned the guitar in childhood and by 1903 he was performing in Shreveport, Louisiana clubs and steadily honing his craft.
01:33The wide range of music which Lead Belly heard in Shreveport had an indelible influence on his music.
01:43In 1912, following the sinking of the Titanic, Lead Belly wrote a song about the ship noting that African-American boxer Jack Johnson
01:55was denied the right to sail on the ship and was able to live out his life as a result.
02:04In 1915, Lead Belly landed in trouble when he was convicted of carrying a pistol.
02:12Three years later, his volatile temper exploded and he killed one of his relatives, Will Stafford, in a fist fight over a woman.
02:24He was sentenced to imprisonment in the Sugar Land Prison near Houston, where he served seven years.
02:32A song written for the Texas governor and his performances for fellow musicians helped to earn him an early release.
02:42He was released in 1925 but would wind up back in prison at Angola Prison Farm in 1930 for attempted murder after he had knifed a white man in a fight.
02:58Between his stints in prison, Lead Belly traveled around Texas with blues master Blind Lemon Jefferson, playing music and acting as Jefferson's guide.
03:12In 1933, John Lomax of the Library of Congress discovered Lead Belly in Angola and recorded him on primitive recording equipment.
03:25Lomax would return the following year with better recording equipment and record hundreds of songs from Lead Belly's vast repertoire of blues and folk tunes.
03:39Later that year, Lead Belly was released for good behavior and accompanied Lomax on several song-collecting excursions through the American South.
03:52In 1934, Lead Belly landed a recording deal with ARC Records and recorded blues material.
04:01His recordings were commercially unsuccessful and he returned to Louisiana.
04:07In 1936, Lead Belly traveled to New York where he tried to appeal to black audiences in Harlem's Apollo Theater by playing the blues.
04:18He failed to win over the Apollo audiences but began to attract attention from the white leftist folk crowd.
04:29In 1939, Lead Belly landed in trouble again, this time for stabbing a man in a fight in Manhattan, a crime which landed him in jail again for two years.
04:44Upon his release in 1941, Lead Belly became a fixture on the New York City folk club scene, appearing with other folk luminaries such as Josh White, Brownie McGee, Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger.
05:02In 1944, Lead Belly went to California where he made a series of excellent recordings for Capitol Records.
05:09Lead Belly contracted Lou Gehrig's disease in 1949 and died later that year in New York City.
05:18Lead Belly's music is best heard on the compilations, Last Sessions from 1953, Sings Folk Songs from 1962, Lead Belly from 1965, and I'm Sorry.
05:39Midnight Special from 1991, King of the 12-String Guitar from 1991, and Where Did You Sleep Last Night? Lead Belly Legacy Vol. 1 from 1996, and the definitive Lead Belly from 2008.