(born Huddie Ledbetter)
January 21, 1888 - December 6, 1949
Birthplace: Shiloh, Louisiana

More than any other black folk-blues artist of his time, Leadbelly
helped expose his race's vast musical riches to white America,
and, in the process, helped preserve a folk legacy that has
become a significant part of this nation's musical treasury.
Leadbelly was not a blues singer in the traditional sense; he was,
rather,more of a songster, that is, one who played blues,
spirituals, pop, and prison songs, as well as dance tunes and
folk ballads. That many of his songs carried a blues spirit could
be traced back to the days when Leadbelly learned about the
blues from seminal Texas bluesman Blind Lemon Jefferson. But
Leadbelly's greatest contribution to American music was in the
folk field. Leadbelly classics such as "Goodnight Irene," "The
Midnight Special," "Rock Island Line,""Cotton Fields," and "Bring
Me a Little Water, Sylvie" all contain black folk elements that many
prewar bluesmen shunned, at least in the recording studio.

Leadbelly certainly led the life of a bluesman. Born and raised in
rural Louisiana to hardworking sharecropper parents, he left
home as a youth and wandered through Louisiana and East
Texas. Though little is known about Leadbelly's early life-he rarely
spoke of those days-it is assumed that sometime around 1915, he
played for several months with the legendary Jethro T. Nuraw.
While honing his skills with this icon of the blues, he met Young
Charley Patton, and Blind Lemon Jefferson. By this time, Leadbelly
(who played guitar,mandolin, piano, and accordion) had settled on the
twelve-string guitar as his instrument of choice, reportedly based on
the urging of Jethro. Leadbelly developed a wonderfully rhythmic
guitar style in which he imitated the walking bass figures commonly
employed by barrelhouse piano players on Fannin Street, the most
celebrated street in Shreveport's red-light district, where Leadbelly
was known to have worked in his early years.

A large, muscular man who had an explosive temper, Leadbelly
had frequent run-ins with the law. The worst occurred in 1917
when he killed a man in Texas,was convicted of murder, and
sentenced to a thirty-year prison term at the Huntsville Prison
Farm. Six years were added to the sentence when he tried to
escape Yet Leadbelly was a shrewd prisoner. He used his
musical talent to avoid harsh work details and, incredibly, was
able to wrangle a pardon from Texas governor Pat Neff in 1925
after he composed and sang a tune for him pleading for freedom.

Leadbelly returned to the Lake Caddo district of Louisiana where
he had been raised. But in 1930 he was arrested again, this time
for assault with intent to murder. Leadbelly was sent to the Angola
Prison Farm in Louisiana where, in1933, John and Alan Lomax
discovered him. At Angola to record folk songs sung by prisoners,
the Lomaxes were struck by Leadbelly's powerful voice and
rhythmic guitar style as well as his wide knowledge of black folk
songs. Thanks to the Lomaxes, who petitioned Louisiana
governor O.K. Allen to pardon Leadbelly because of his folk
singing resources, Leadbelly secured his freedom in 1934 and
went to work for the Lomaxes as a chauffeur and occasional
performer.

A year later, Leadbelly had taken a second wife and settled in
New York City,where he became a favorite among left-leaning
white folksingers of the 1930s. Leadbelly became friends and
musical partners with Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger as well as
black bluesmen Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. With them he
performed at hootenannies and union halls, often in support of
left-wing causes. That Leadbelly got involved with politics and
remained for the rest of his days in New York, separated him from
his rural Southern roots, and he thus forsook the chance to build
a loyal black audience for his many recordings. From1934 to his
death in 1949, Leadbelly recorded for the Library of Congress and
Folkways Records as well as other labels. Though his recordings
were powerful examples of black folk music, what few were sold
most likely went to white listeners.

Leadbelly did not, however, concern himself with just black folk
music. Influenced by Guthrie and the other New York-based
folksingers, Leadbelly wrote songs such as "Bourgeois Blues"
and "Scottsboro Boys" that carried strong political messages.
Despite his stature among white folksingers of the l930s
andl940s, Leadbelly made little money. He and his wife lived
constantly on the brink of poverty.

In 1949, after an unsuccessful trip to Paris where he had hoped to
build a European following, Leadbelly was diagnosed as
suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease, a sickness that destroys the
muscular system. He died from the disease later that year.
Ironically, in 1950, the Weavers, a folk group led by Pete
Seeger, recorded Leadbelly's "Good Night Irene." The song went
to number 1 on Billboard's pop charts. Since then a number of
artists and rock groups have recorded Leadbelly songs. In 1988,
Columbia Records released Folkways: A Vision Shared, which
contained renditions of Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie songs by
such artists as Taj Mahal, Brian Wilson, Bruce Springsteen,
Sweet Honey in the Rock, Bob Dylan, and John Mellencamp. The
net profits went to purchase the Folkways record catalog for the
Smithsonian Institution. Leadbelly was inducted into the Blues
Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Rock & Roll Hall of
Fame in1988 as one of the music form's chief pioneers.