Leadbelly has always been one of my favorite blues men. My affection for him stems from the fact that he played and sang his music in my home town of Shreveport, Louisiana, down on Fannin Street back in the twenties and thirties. I was so excited to learn that he probably lived and walked around in the Ledbetter Heights section of Shreveport.
As you have probably noticed if you frequent this blog or if you look around a bit I am attracted to the prewar blues men. Later I may focus more on the post war and modern blues musician, but right now I am happy to find and do research on the pre war musicians.
The details of Leadbelly's life can be found here in an article from Answers.com. Also of note is the very interesting entry from the Handbook of Texas Online "Ledbetter, Huddie (Leadbelly)". And finally an article that has some great links for those who are interested in Leadbelly's life.
"Midnight Special" (3:11, 541 kB) - 124-A-1, Louisiana State Penitentiary, 1 July 1934
"Packin' Trunk" (2:56, 508 kB) - 16685-1, New York City, 23 January 1935
"Death Letter Blues, Part 1" (3:18, 553 kB) - 16695-2, New York City, 24 January 1935
"The Gallis Pole" (3:01, 519 kB) - GM-509-A, New York City, 1 April 1939
"Good Morning Blues" (2:53, 498 kB) - 051501-1, New York City, 15 June 1940
file under;
music, blues, mp3, Leadbelly
2 comments:
he probably lived and walked around in the Ledbetter Heights section of Shreveport
Indeed, the Ledbetter Heights section of town was probably named after Leadbelly. Wasn't his given name Hudie Ledbetter?
mrtree, it was redundant for me to say that, but when I was a boy that part of town was called the "St. John's Bottoms" after a church in the area, or just the "the bottom." There was a revival of Leadbelly and the city farthers in the recent past renamed that part of the town. I believe that was about the same time that they placed the satue in front of the main post office.
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