Biography

Born Huddie William Ledbetter, on Jeter Plantation in Mooringsport Louisiana, on January 29 1885 (though this date is disputed). Died of lateral sclerosis, in New York, on December 6, 1949. The nickname "Leadbelly" was acquired in prison and referred to his physical toughness.

1885 - 1916

Huddie was born into a relatively prosperous negro family, who farmed land, first as sharecroppers in Lousiana, then as landowners in Texas, near the Louisiana border. Always precocious, an only child doted on by parents Wes and Sally Ledbetter, he fathered a child at age 15, scandalizing the local community. Taught to play accordion, and then guitar by his uncle Terrel Ledbetter, he soon blossomed and began to employ his talents at local "sukey-jump" parties, and down on Shreveport's notorious Fannin Street. In a song he recorded later, Follow Me Down, Leadbelly recalled how his mother begged him to stay away from Fannin Street.

After fathering a second child at age 16, Huddie left home to wander, propelled by the outraged community. He became by turns an itinerant minstrel and a farm labourer, returning at least once to recover from a serious illness. During this time he married his first wife "Lethe". He would recall later that he had roamed around Dallas with the legendary blues singer Blind Lemon Jefferson. Blind Lemon would go on to sell over a million "race records" during the 1920s, to the emergent black market, but nevertheless die a pauper. Though Blind Lemon was Huddie's junior, Leadbelly would later pay tribute to him in (My Friend)Blind Lemon, and he must have been a strong influence on Leadbelly's rural-blues repertoire.

1916 - 1917
Leadbelly parted with Blind Lemon by at least 1917, when he was jailed for assault, the first of many years spent in Southern Penitentiaries. Parents Wes and Sally Ledbetter sold their land (hard earned after years of sharecropping) to pay for his defense, but he was nevertheless sentenced to short-term hard labour. Leadbelly escaped soon enough - later, he would claim that he had outrun the dogs used to track down escaping convicts.

Leadbelly returned home "hungry and frightened", a fugitive. After hiding him on the farm briefly, Wes Ledbetter sent him down to New Orleans, but Huddie disliked the city; he chose to move on to De Kalb, in Northeast Texas, next to the Arkansas border. He aimed to "lie low", protected by relatives, surviving by working as a farm labourer. Downplaying the music to avoid undue attention, Huddie lived under the assumed name "Walter Boyd". By this time Lethe had faded into the distance, and Leadbelly had found other company.

"Walter Boyd" escaped detection successfully, but quickly acquired a reputation in the area as a womanizer and a brawler. Travelling in a river bottom next to the border, accompanied by friends and Huddie's relative Will Stafford, a fight ensued and Stafford was shot in the head, fatally. Huddie was tried and convicted of the shooting, though he always maintained his innocence. He was convicted of "murder and assault to kill", and sentenced to a long temr of hard labour on the Shaw State Farm, under the name "Walter Boyd."

Well if you're ever in Houston
Boys you better walk right
You better not squabble
And you better not fight

Bason and Brock will arrest you
Payton and Boone will take you down
The judge he will sentence you
and you be Sugarland bound

From The Midnight Special, probably learned by Huddie in Sugarland.

1917 - 1925

Leadbelly served seven years of a thirty year sentence in Texas, performing hard labour in chain gangs. An escape was foiled and harshly punished; he had been rescued after attempting to drown himself in a lake when he had been apprehended. Yet, he withstood the conditions better than most, and his musical gifts served him well in the camps, where he became a favourite of the guards. While in prison, his father Wes died, some months after a futile attempt to bribe prison officials to release his son, with the little money he had left. But in a curious turn of events, "Walter Boyd" was granted a full pardon in 1925, and released. After all, Patt Neff, then governor of Texas, had campaigned for the governorship on a "no pardons" ticket, after the previous governor had become embroiled in a pardon scandal.


Legend has it that Huddie pleaded for his release in a "please pardon me" song composed for and addressed to Neff. Neff had visited Shaw farm several times, asking to hear "Walter" sing in later visits. Neff was so impressed he pardoned Leadbelly upon leaving office (or so Huddie would always maintain).

If I had you Governor Neff, like you got me
I'd wake up in the morning and set you free

From Governor Pat Neff

1925 - 1930

After receiving Neff's pardon, Leadbelly returned to Mooringsport Louisiana, and prospered briefly. He worked as a truck driver for a while, and his musical ability brought a steady supply of liquor and women. Oddly, he seems to have slipped the attention of the record company scouts, then scouring the South for talent to feed the booming black "race records" market. His sometime companion Blind Lemon was now a major seller, and the "Country Blues" had reached what would later prove to be the pinnacle of their popularity.

It was during this period that Leabdelly acquired the horrific scar that marked his neck. He later recalled for the Lomaxes:

One night, "I was playin''Mister Tom Hughes's Town.' You know that's a piece where a man has got to keep his min' concentrated, an' I wasn' watchin' things like I mostly did. Fust thing I know a man had stuck his knife in my neck an' was pullin' it aroun' my throat jes' tryin' to cut my head off. 'Nother fellow runned up an' pulled his Pistol, tryin' to shoot me. I didn' pay no 'tention to him, but I grabbed that knife with bofe han's an' wrench it outa my neck while Era grab de pistol an' fight wid de odder man. Era was a reg'lar wil' cat when somebody git on her blin' side, an' she had dat pistol away f'om dat man 'fo' he know what happen. She hand it to me, an' I chase de man had stab me. He run out in de lake up to his neck in water so I let him go an' come back after de odder fellow. I jump on him an', man, I had him beat mos' to death 'fo' I let him go--playin' a tune on his head wid dat Pistol. When de doctor come to look at him, he tol' his frien's wa'n't no use tryin' to sew him up, might as well cut de man's head off 'cause dey wasn' much lef of it anyhow. De man didn' die, but it took him two months to git well an] when he did, he never did have much sense. Well, I walk on down to de police station, bleedin' like a stuck hawg, an' give in de pistol. I tol''em what had happen', an' dey tol' me to go on home an' not come back to play in Oil City no mo', 'cause those folks might try to do me somepin. An' I sho didn'. I stayed away fom dat place."

From John and Alan Lomax Negro Folk Songs as Sung by Leadbelly (Macmillan, 1936)

Huddie's quick temper, womanizing and rough ways led to several scrapes with the law, and by 1930 he had been arrested and convicted of assault with intent to murder. He would later claim that he had severely assaulted six men who had confronted him in an attempt to steal whiskey from his lunch pail, Court records reveal that he was actually tried for assualting a (white) Salvation Army Officer, after an altercation at a Salvation concert. Apparently Leadbelly, a spectator, was told to stop dancing to the music by several (white) men, and a fight broke out, in which Leadbelly wielded his knife efficiently.

1930 - 1934

Leadbelly was tried and sentenced to ten years (minimum six) on the Louisiana state prison farm at Angola. The authorities discovered his previous conviction and considered this an aggravating factor. They turned down his written pleas for an early release.


Leadbelly's prison record from the Angola state penitentiary in Lousiana.

By all accounts, conditions at the camp were harsh, especially since budget cutbacks in the depression affected the prison system severely. The record shows that Leadbelly was flogged severely for relatively minor incidents. He soon learned to apdapt to the system however, and the record also shows him moving into "trusty" positions as laundryman and waiter. For some time later he would only sleep with the lights on, a habit acquired in the constantly lit prison dormitories.


Leadbelly in Angola Prison Camp, Louisiana, circa 1934

In the 1930s, distinguished Texan folklorist John Lomax was travelling through the South, and particularly the prison camps, under a Library of Congress grant, recording the "musical treasury" (as he would subsequently recall) "locked up" in the prisons. Lomax "discovered" Leadbelly at Angola, in July 1933, astounded by his enormous repertoire (he claimed to know some 500 songs), intense vocal style, and commanding physical presence.



John Lomax, the distinguished Texan folklorist. Of farming stock, and a U. Texas and Harvard graduate, Lomax had published extensively on American folklore. But the 30s depression had hit the family hard. He published his autobiography, Adventures of a Ballad Hunter during the Second World War, and his death in 1948 disturbed Leadbelly.


Alan Lomax, son of John Lomax. Alan accompanied his father when still a teenager, and befriended Leadbelly. The friendship would outlast that of his father. He later performed as part of the "Almanac Singers" with Pete Seeger and others. Recently, he published The Land Where the Blues Began.

Lomax recorded Leadbelly, and would return some months later for more recordings with improved equipment. He now had state-of-the-art equipment for the day, a bulky recorder which cut aluminium discs, and occupied most of his car boot. Leadbelly seized the chance to rework his pardon song, addressing it to Louisiana Governor OK Allen, while performing (what would become) his trademark song "Goodnight Irene", at the same time. Leadbelly was soon released, and the legend (assiduously cultivated by Huddie) has always had it that Allen pardoned him because he was so moved by the pardon song, a repeat of the Pat Neff legend. But the records indicate that Leadbelly was not pardoned, but rather released under "double good time" measures adopted to save costs, and there is no evidence that the song played any part in his release.

1934 - 1936

Once released, Leadbelly had a rough time of it. The depression was just past its peak, and making a living was no longer as easy, particularly with a prison record. John Lomax agreed to hire him as an assistant on his recording travels, with some trepidation; but the arrangement proved highly successful, so much so that Lomax decided to take Leadbelly to New York. Lomax had numerous contacts on the East Coast, having studied at Harvard, and had acquired a reputation as a musicologist there.

Leadbelly proved a sensation on his arrival in New York, on December 31 1934, with the newspapers printing lurid descriptions of his convict past and the social set suddenly clamouring to have him appear at their gatherings. Performing before audiences of musicologists at elite universities, he inspired fear and admiration. His eclectic repertoire was largely unknown, harking back some 30 or more years to forgotten rural traditions. Even 12 string guitars were not widely used then, particularly in folk music. The mystique of his convict past and his commanding physical presence, replete with horrific scars, added to his allure.


The publicity portrait by Otto Hesse, taken in 1935. Note the clothing Lomax encouraged Leadbelly to wear at performances, replete with "authentic" cotton-bale props.

The six string guitar may have been loaned from Alan Lomax, and was possibly used on some tracks from the American Record Company sessions.


Encouraged by the success, John Lomax negotiated a contract with Macmillan publishers, to write what would be titled Negro Folk Songs as Sung by Leadbelly, detailing Leadbelly's history, the events surrounding his "discovery" by Lomax, together with transcripts from his repertoire and explanations about the background of his songs and their place in American folklore.

The Lomaxes had even managed to arrange for the use of a house in Connecticut (owned by a rich socialite and admirer) to provide a respite from the glare of publicity in New York, and expedite the production of the book. Leadbelly sent to Louisiana for Martha Promise, who he had taken up with after being released from Angola, and married her in Wilton on January 21, footage of the marriage making newsreels of the time.

Meanwhile, at Wilton there was also plenty of time to record Leadbelly's repertoire for the Library of Congress archives, and many of of the recordings now available were recorded in these sessions, as the earlier recordings made in Angola would not survive well.

Lomax also arranged a recording contract with what was then called "The American Record Company", who had highly sophisticated recording studios and equipment for the time. Leadbelly recorded numerous sides for them, some of which were released commercially by the company. However, the commercial success of rural blues had passed some ten years earlier, with the heyday of Blind Lemon, and the records sold poorly. This was compounded by the company's insistence that he record blues rather than the folk songs which dominated his repertoire, most of which predated the blues and were the chief source of his attraction for (white) audiences. Leadbelly would never sell many records in his lifetime.

Leadbelly even featured in the "March of Time" newsreel shown in cinemas around the country, and internationally


A "prison scene" from the March of Time newsreel which followed Leadbelly's sensational first appearance in New York City. The scene was actually staged with actors (which was the way the March of Time reports were then created) and was filmed in Connecticut.

Initially the relationship between John Lomax and Leadbelly was stable and cordial, with Leadbelly dutifully performing for Lomax's audiences and staying out of the trouble he had habitually courted in previous years. Money accrued from performance fees and royalties was handled by Lomax, in terms of a contract he had drawn up with Leadbelly, with Lomax paying Leadbelly cautiously in the light of the singer's profligate tendencies. As the stay in New York and environs wore on though, the relationship deteriorated. Doubtless Leadbelly resented Lomax's patrician demeanour, and was increasingly attracted to the black areas of town - the late-night carousing and singing he had cut his adult teeth on in Texas and Louisiana.

John Lomax on the other hand was never totally at ease with Leadbelly; the singer's violent past and mood swings were always in the background, and it seems that Lomax was genuinely afraid of Leadbelly - a not irrational fear given Leadbelly's string of assault and murder convictions. A series of petty disagreements, and Leadbelly's increasing waywardness - with missed appointments and occasionally poor performances due to carousing - led to a split by March of 1935. While Alan Lomax would remain close to Huddie thoughout his life, the friendship between John Lomax and Leadbelly was to end here.

Leadbelly retuned to Lousiana, and John Lomax returned to Texas to complete the book, which fell behind schedule. Bitterness over the breakup, and over Lomax's handling of money and the book, produced threats of legal action from Leadbelly, who had by now engaged a lawyer. Wrangling between the parties dragged on, with the now destitute Leadbelly demanding money. A settlement was eventually reached to allow production of the book to proceed, and it was published in November of 1936.

1936 - 1939

Down on his luck, Leadbelly returned to New York with wife Martha, a year after he had departed, in March of 1936. Lacking John Lomax's excellent connections, Leadbelly struggled. His recordings for the American Record Company had not sold well, and they were not interested in further recordings. Matters improved when Mary Barnicle - a lecturer at New York University, Leadbelly admirer and left-wing activist - took an interest in him. Through her sponsorship, Leadbelly was introduced to the left-wing New York circle, and was to remain associated with this set, which had taken a keen interest in folk music, through the rest of his career.

Making a living was still tough though, and the Ledbetters survived on odd jobs and welfare. The Lomax book was now in print and gained him some more publicity, though the book sold poorly. Missed opportunities to play on radio and the changing musical climate, now dominated by jazz and swing, cost him dearly. The black music market had moved on, and Leadbelly would find his principal audience among whites, especially the trade union movement, its left-wing associates, and the college students of the future.

Always ready to adapt to his environment, Leadbelly added "topical" and "protest" songs to his repertoire for the first time, tackling segregation and other issues. He made non-commercial recordings; some sessions for Alan Lomax, and numerous casual recordings for Barnicle and others, some of which found their way into the Library of Congress collection - the rest were eventually donated to the archives of East Tennessee State University.

Quiet as this life may seem, events overtook Huddie in early 1939. Arrested for assaulting a (black) man with a knife - the circumstances surrounding the attack have remained unclear, though it is reported that he had stabbed the man sixteen times - he was convicted by a jury of third-degree assault. He was sentenced to less than a year on Riker's Island prison, eventually serving just eight months.

During the trial Leadbelly made his first commercial recordings since 1935, for a small company known as "Musicraft", which had left-wing and liberal associations. Leadbelly recorded some 13 tracks and received a small advance on the royalties.

1939 - 1944

Deciding not to appeal against his sentence, Leadbelly (now aged 51) served his fourth prison term. He was released in early 1940, and moved back into the New York folk circuit. Now he was joined by many newcomers: Woody Guthrie, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Pete Seeger, The Golden Gate Quartet, Burl Ives and many others had migrated to New York and would fuel a minor folk boom during and after the war. Intriguingly, one of the newcomers was Josh White, who would go on to gain a sizeable following and reputation of his own; White had accompanied Leadbelly and Blind Lemon around Dallas as a boy, in the 1910s.

Woody Guthrie, then relatively unknown, was taken in by Leadbelly, and lived with the Ledbetters in their apartment for some time. The apartment became a magnet for singers and musicians, who would hold all-night jam sessions there. Leadbelly began to appear on radio frequently, particularly on WNYC (originally part of the Public Works Administration)

Recordings for RCA (with the Golden Gate Quartet backing on many tracks), for the Library of Congress (with Alan Lomax supervising) and for Moe Asch, filled in the now busy schedule. The RCA sessions in particular were superb, and issued on media and packaging of outstanding quality for the time. Asch would go on to found "Folkways Records", struggling through some hard times in the industry, and become Huddie's principal recorder and issuer. Neither Leadbelly nor Asch ever made much money from these recordings, though, and by 1944 Leadbelly was restless. Hollywood took his fancy.

1944-1946

Leadbelly headed out to Hollywood in hope of landing a part there, spurred on by rumours in New York. He was soon disillusioned, but made a reasonable living in conditions favoured by the Californian defense industry, playing the club circuits. He also had the opportunity to record some material for Capitol records, unusually backed by zither, including some rare piano rags very seldom featured in his repertoire.

The Capitol sessions remain some of Leadbelly's best recorded work, especially since the recording technology used was the best he had yet been subjected to. He also gained some radio airplay - including some children's music for Standard Oil - retained hopes of landing a movie part (possibly in a film version of John Lomax's autobiography) and did some concert tours in parts of the West. But he had tired of the West by late 1946, and set off for New York once more.


Leadbelly as "elder (folk) statesman", an image enhanced by his now snow-white hair.

1946 - 1949

Leadbelly returned to renewed interest in his music, buoyed by the revival of dixieland jazz, and interest in the origins of roots music forms. A book of essays titled "A Tribute to Huddie Ledbetter" had been published in England in 1946, and he found steady (but not lucrative) work playing the jazz clubs, and occasional concerts. By now he had come to keenly resent the "convict" image that he had acquired since his initial "discovery" and arrival in New York, but found it impossible to shake off. He toured briefly in France, where jazz had become hugely popular, in early 1949. While in Paris, persistent muscle problems led to a diagnosis of Lous Gehrig's disease - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Some six months later he succumbed to the disorder, on December 6, 1949. In 1950, his trademark song "Goodnight Irene", which he had learned from his uncle Bob Ledbetter, became a nationwide number one hit for the Weavers.

Source: http://cycad.com/cgi-bin/Leadbelly/biog.html