Leadbelly, circa 1942 (shown with an accordion, though he typically played guitar)

Leadbelly (January 29, 1885 - December 6, 1949) was an influential blues singer and guitarist. He was born Huddie William Ledbetter in Mooringsport, Louisiana, and died in New York.

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, O.K. Allen, after Allen heard his recordings, which supposedly included an appeal by song directed to him.

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 1940s.

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. One of the more notable covers of his work in recent time was done by Nirvana in December 1993, when they played "Where Did You Sleep Last Night? " as the closer to their legendary appearance for the MTV Unplugged series, which was subsequently released as an album. It should be noted, though, that this song was not originally written by Leadbelly as Cobain had stated.

Leadbelly died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Samples

• Download sample of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?"

External Link

• "Ledbetter, Huddie (Leadbelly)" in the Handbook of Texas Online http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/LL/fle10.html