{"id":254,"date":"2021-10-06T17:00:56","date_gmt":"2021-10-06T21:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/?p=254"},"modified":"2021-12-25T17:13:42","modified_gmt":"2021-12-25T21:13:42","slug":"lead-belly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/music-of-texas-fall-2021\/2021\/10\/06\/lead-belly\/","title":{"rendered":"Lead Belly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Lead<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 As Huddie gained popularity, trouble followed. Lead Belly has said \u201cWhen 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.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lead Belly pictured inside Angola prison in 1934<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGeorge Harrison once said, \u2018No Lead Belly, no Lonnie Donegan. Therefore, no Lead Belly, no Beatles\u2019,\u201d<\/p>John Reynolds, author of Lead Belly: A Life in Pictures<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

One year later they had returned to Angola to record more of Lead Belly\u2019s music, including \u201cGovernor O.K. Allen\u201d 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 \u201cKing 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a BBC tribute in 1999, which marked the 50th anniversary of Lead Belly\u2019s death, Morrison \u2014 while sitting alongside Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones \u2014 claimed that the British popular music scene of the 1960s wouldn\u2019t have happened if it weren\u2019t for Lead Belly\u2019s influence. \u201cI\u2019d put my money on that,\u201d he said. <\/p>Irish Examiner <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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