Monday, September 10, 2007

Leadbelly (Huddie Ledbetter) (1885-1949)

Sierra Club

Quotation

The blues is like this. You lay down some night and you turn from one side of the bed to the other: all night long. It's not too cold in that bed, and it ain't too hot. But what's the matter? The blues has got you.

Books

Please browse our Amazon list of titles about Huddie (Leadbelly) Ledbetter. For rare and hard to find works we recommend our Alibris list of titles about Huddie (Leadbelly) Ledbetter.

AlibrisResearch

Sheet music: Leadbelly
Recordings: Leadbelly
COPAC UK: Leadbelly
Library of Canada Search Form
Library of Congress: Leadbelly
Other Library Catalogs: Leadbelly

Biographical

Leadbelly was an influential blues singer and guitarist. He was born January 29, 1885 , in Mooringsport, Louisiana and died on December 6, 1949, in New York. Born Huddie William Ledbetter, Leadbelly was a monumental figure in the history of US folk music. He was "discovered" by John and Alan Lomax, in prison in Louisiana, where he was recorded on portable recording equipment. It is claimed by Alan Lomax that he was pardoned by the state governor, OK Allen after Allen heard his recordings. Leadbelly subsequently toured extensively but ended up back in prison in 1939 convicted of assault. (He served four separate prison terms for his violent behaviour.) After this last prison term, Leadbelly moved to New York in 1940 and associated with Woody Guthrie and the young Pete Seeger among others. His best recordings were made for Capitol records in California during the mid 1940's. Leadbelly played a twelve string guitar and had a high clear voice. One of his best known songs Goodnight Irene, recorded by many artists, was a number one hit for the Weavers in 1950. [This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License and uses material adapted in whole or in part from the Wikipedia article on Huddie (Leadbelly) Ledbetter.]

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