Huddie Ledbetter, also known as Lead Belly, was born in January of 1888, near Mooringsport Louisiana. He lived in Louisiana until the age of 10 when he and his family moved to east Texas onto a small farm. He started playing instruments when he was only 2 and was drawn to mastering the guitar. At the age of 13 Huddie left his home to perform in saloons and dance halls throughout Dallas and Fort Worth to make money during the wintertime. While Ledbetter was performing in Dallas, he met Blind Lemon Jefferson which influenced him to play the 12-string guitar. Lead Belly tuned his 12-string guitar down by at least a major third. This created a darker sound than most bass guitars.
As Huddie gained popularity, trouble followed. Lead Belly has said “When I play, the women would come around to listen and their men would get angry.” In 1918, Ledbetter was sentenced to 30 years in the state prison in Huntsville, Texas for fighting and killing a man. This is known to be when Lead Belly got his name. Although he was not supposed to be released until 1948, he received an early bail in 1925, due to a song that he wrote for the Texas Governor, Pat Neff, asking for a pardon. Lead Belly took his time in prison and used his experience in Huntsville to create and perform new, Texan influenced music. As he had experienced before his time in prison, as his popularity arose, jealousy and envy did as well. Lead Belly had gotten into another fight and got charged with assault with intent to murder. This sentencing was at the Angola Farm prison plantation in Louisiana. Although he was back in prison, this sentence was a blessing in disguise. In July 1933, Lead Belly was noticed by Texan folklorists John Avery Lomax and Alan Lomax. The Lomaxes were traveling to record prison songs for the Library of Congress. They were intending to search for folk music, which they believed to find in prisons, specifically prison songs, because the artists were not being influenced by outside music at the time. John Lomax feared that the radio and celebrity artists would lead to an abandonment of traditional musical styles, indicatively Black music. On their fourth day, a guard introduced them to Ledbetter, which formulated a fascination. The Lomaxes recorded 7 songs that Lead Belly performed for them with his 12-string guitar, then moved onto other prisons in search of authentic folk music.
“George Harrison once said, ‘No Lead Belly, no Lonnie Donegan. Therefore, no Lead Belly, no Beatles’,”
John Reynolds, author of Lead Belly: A Life in Pictures
One year later they had returned to Angola to record more of Lead Belly’s music, including “Governor O.K. Allen” and asked the folklorists to play it for the governor in hopes for a pardon. Shortly after, Lead Belly was released for good behavior, and he relocated to New York to tour with the Lomaxes, both as John’s chauffeur and aid in discovering work songs and spirituals of Black convicts. Ledbetter experienced tremendous positivity while performing in New York City, which eventually led to an end to his relationship with the Lomaxes. Although his relationship with Lomax seemed to be a friendship, but it didn’t quite end like that. Ledbetter was getting frustrated with his minimal monthly payments even after the agreement of a 50/50 split. This also becomes strange knowing he was also hired as his chauffeur, which doesn’t seem to be a key factor in a “friendship”. Lead Belly continued performing, introducing audiences to his authentic folk-rooted music. His life experiences in both Texas and Louisiana shaped his music, which he displayed within his hundreds of original compositions inspired by Southern Black music. Although he started as a folk musician, it is nearly impossible to put a label on his music. With over 500 songs in his music catalog, consisted of a wide range of genres, the only true label that Lead Belly deserves to hold is the “King of the 12-String Guitar”. Many artists including Eric Clapton, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Little Richard, have expressed their early studies of music to Lead Belly, influencing some of the greatest artists of all time.
In a BBC tribute in 1999, which marked the 50th anniversary of Lead Belly’s death, Morrison — while sitting alongside Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones — claimed that the British popular music scene of the 1960s wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for Lead Belly’s influence. “I’d put my money on that,” he said.
Irish Examiner
Lyrics:
[Verse 1]
My girl, my girl, don’t lie to me
Tell me, where did you sleep last night?
(Come on and tell me baby)
In the pines, in the pines where the sun don’t ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through
[Verse 2]
My girl, my girl, where will you go?
I’m going where the cold wind blows
(Where’s that, baby?)
In the pines, in the pines where the sun don’t ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through
[Verse 3]
My girl, my girl, don’t you lie to me
Tell me, where did you sleep last night?
(Come on and tell me something about it)
In the pines, in the pines where the sun don’t ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through
(Shiver for me now)
[Verse 4]
Her husband, was a hard working man
Killed a mile and half from here (what happened to him?)
His head was found in a driving wheel
And his body has never been found
[Verse 5]
My girl, my girl, don’t you lie to me
Tell me where did you sleep last night
In the pines, in the pines where the sun don’t ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through
I chose to share the song “Where Did You Sleep Last Night,” also known as “In the Pines,” because this shows two major things. This murder ballad highlights Lead Belly’s natural, raw talent with his guitar and his raspy vocals. This piece also displays this sense of loneliness and darkness. His life was filled with trouble and, in a sense, alienated. When I listened to this song, I could feel the emotions in his vocals. This song was later covered and depicted by many artists, such as Bill Monroe, Dolly Parton, and the Grateful Dead, but most famously covered by Nirvana.
Lyrics:
[Verse 1]
I asked your mother for you
She told me that you was too young
I wish dear Lord that I’d never seen your face
I’m sorry you ever were born
[Chorus]
Irene good night
Irene good night
Good night Irene, good night Irene
I guess you’re in my dreams
[Verse 2]
Sometimes I live in the country
Sometimes I live in town
Sometimes I haves a great notion
Jumping in, into the river and drown
[Chorus]
[Verse 3]
Stop ramblin’ and stop gamblin’
Quit staying out late at night
Go home to your wife and family
Stay there by the fireside bright
[Chorus]
[Verse 4]
I love Irene, God knows I do
I love her ’til the sea runs dry
If Irene turns her back on me
I’m gonna take morphine and die
The second song I chose to share is “Goodnight, Irene”. After Lead Belly’s death in 1949, The Weavers covered “Goodnight, Irene” which caused the song to rise up the Billboard Best Sellers chart, sending it to #1, which sold millions of copies after his death and is now known to be one of his most popular songs. He is accompanied in this song with his 12-string guitar, in which he plays with an emphasis on the second and third beat, as we have noticed in many Texan songs at this time. I believe this song exemplifies his vocal talent, he often only uses his guitar and sings along. Some may say that his songs are bare, but I believe that his vocals are strong enough to fill the gaps that he leaves himself.
Lyrics:
(This song was made about a man and a woman. This man wanna marry the woman, she didn’t want him. But she married him anyhow for the money that he had. And she thought she got every dollar he had, but she was mistaken. But she got him pretty well bent, he’s sittin’ with his head hung down. She walked by and she says, “Daddy, what’s the matter with you?” He looked at her and here’s what he said to her.)
I’m sittin’ down here wonderin’ would a matchbox hold my clothes
I’m sittin’ down here wonderin’ would a matchbox hold my clothes
I’m sittin’ down here wonderin’ would a matchbox hold my clothes
(She asks him, says, “Papa, says, what the matter with you?”)
I don’t wanna be bothered with no suitcase on my road
I don’t wanna be bothered with no suitcase on my road
I don’t wanna be bothered with no suitcase on my road
(He said, “I’m goin’ to see my friend and see what he was doin’ when his wife packin’ up her trunk.”)
Ah, what would you do when your baby packin’ up her trunk
What would you do when your baby packin’ up her trunk
Now what would you do when your baby packin’ up her trunk
(He looked at him and here’s what he told him)
“Get you a half a gallon o’ whiskey and get on you a big drunk
Get you a half a gallon o’ whiskey and get on you a big drunk
Get you a half a gallon o’ whiskey and get on you a big drunk”
(She said, “Daughters, go play the piano please for me a little piece.” Little girls jumped down and commenced to PLAY/PLAYIN’ the piano.)
The third song I chose to express Lead Belly’s musical talents is “Packin’ Trunk” or “Packin’ Trunk Blues”. This recording emphasizes the blues genre that Lead Belly empowered. This recording is a mixture of guitar picking, strumming, blues talking, shouting, singing, and so much more. There are many layers of texture incorporated into this song, which is beyond impressive and immediately caught my ear. Throughout the song he either completely stops playing his guitar or slows it down to place emphasis on the vocal portions. We have seen this throughout recordings in class, whether it is a guitar or an accordian, it creates a sort of call and response in the midst of the piece. I especially love the short guitar solo near the end of the song, it truly represents the King of the 12-stringed guitar.
Works Cited
Carlson, Peter. “Encounter: Lead Belly Wows the Lomaxes.” HistoryNet, HistoryNet, 14 Apr. 2016, https://www.historynet.com/encounter-lead-belly-wows-the-lomaxes.htm.
Fitzpatrick, Richard. “Lead Belly Has Inspired a Music Generation.” Irish Examiner, 10 June 2015, https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/arid-20335558.html.
Hamm, Christine. “Ledbetter, Huddie [Lead Belly] (1888–1949).” TSHA, 1976, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/ledbetter-huddie-leadbelly.
“Lead Belly Biography.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 1 Apr. 2014, https://www.biography.com/musician/lead-belly.
Lukasavitz, Brian. “Blues Law: Lead Belly vs. Lomax.” American Blues Scene, 10 Apr. 2020, https://www.americanbluesscene.com/blues-law-lead-belly-vs-lomax/.
Schwartz, Andrew. “Lead Belly.” Lead Belly | Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, 1993, https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/lead-belly.
Seitel, Peter. “Lead Belly.” Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, 2017, https://folklife.si.edu/legacy-honorees/lead-belly/smithsonian.
