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SPOTLIGHT ON HISTORYSPOTLIGHT ON HISTORY
Leadbelly: Folk and Blues Troubadour
O
n a song-collecting trip to Angola State Prison
in Louisiana in 1933, John and Alan Lomax
became acquainted with Huddie Ledbetter
(1888–1949), who went by the name Leadbelly (or Lead
Belly). Impressed with his formidable musical skills
and encyclopedic knowledge of blues and folk songs,
the Lomaxes agreed to record his sung petition to
Governor O. K. Allen, asking for an early release from
his sentence for attempted homicide. In 1934 they con-
veyed the petition to Allen on a phonograph record,
and Leadbelly was released (though state offi cials said
the recording had nothing to do with their decision).
After a few months as John Lomax’s driver on a
recording expedition, Leadbelly began performing
for the fi rst time outside his native South. Beginning
with a concert at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylva-
nia, he sang in New York and at other northeastern
liberal arts colleges, with John Lomax acting as his
manager. Leadbelly found his most enthusiastic
audiences among leftist political organizations.At Lomax’s suggestion, Leadbelly developed
the practice of introducing his songs with spoken
introductions, often while he strummed his twelve-
string guitar, with the intent of giving his listeners
some necessary background for understanding the
song’s subject matter. This style of song presenta-
tion would become a standard feature of the urban
folk revival that was yet to come. Leadbelly also
introduced a number of songs that became favor-
ites in the coming folk boom, including “Goodnight,
Irene,” “The Rock Island Line,” and “The Midnight
Special.”
These performances made Leadbelly a signifi -
cant folk musician who took his music outside its
original cultural context and performed before an
audience unfamiliar with his musical traditions.
Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, and the
blues duo of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee were
among the key fi gures in American folk music in the
mid-twentieth century.K Leadbelly (Huddie
Ledbetter, 1889–1949)
performs with his 12-string
guitar for a private mixed-
race audience in New York
City in the 1940s.172028_14_332-360_r3_ko.indd 350 23/01/13 8:38 PM