Leadbelly
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | Date: 2008
Leadbelly nickname of Huddie William Ledbetter, 1885-1949, American singer, b. Mooringsport, La. While wandering through Louisiana and Texas, he earned a living by playing the guitar for dances. For a time he joined with Blind Lemon Jefferson, the blues singer, who influenced his future style. Leadbelly's blues and work songs are a survival of the earliest African-American music (see jazz ). He was jailed in 1918 for murder and put on a chain gang; he was pardoned in 1925 but was again put in jail for attempted murder (1930-34) and for assault (1939-40). The folklorist John A. Lomax discovered Leadbelly in prison and used his songs for a book, Negro Folk Songs as Sung by Lead Belly (1936). In the 1940s Leadbelly made numerous nightclub appearances, accompanying himself on his 12-string guitar; in 1949 he made a concert tour in France.
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The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2008
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press
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leadbelly
Indiana Review; 12/1/2006; LaMon, Jacqueline Jones; 727 words
; Tyehimba Jess. leadbeUy. Amherst, Massachusetts: Verse Press, 2005. $14.00 paper (ISBN 0-9746353-3-2), 119 pages. Reviewed by Jacqueline Jones LaMon leadbelly, Tyehimba Jess' first collection of poems, is more than a stroll through the life of blues master Huddie Ledbetter, more commonly known as
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(book reviews)
Notes; 3/1/1994; Lis, Anthony; 787 words
; Charles Wolfe and Kip Lornell's The Life and Legend of Leadbelly tells the amazing story of Huddie Ledbetter, known as Leadbelly (1888--1949), the black songster, blues singer, and self-proclaimed King of the Twelve-String Guitar. The son of Louisiana sharecroppers, Leadbelly was playing at sukey
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Gift raps Our critics have all kinds of ideas about what the'd like to see under somebody's tree this Christmas morning THE MUSIC OF LEADBELLY
The Boston Globe; 12/25/1994; Renee Graham, Globe Staff; 168 words
; Few musicians have composed and performed songs as sensuous, gritty and utterly American as Leadbelly's. His great throaty wail could summon images of hard days in the fields and good nights in juke joints, of dangerously pretty women and pretty dangerous men trying to make their way through an
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The Folk Fathers' Mighty Reprise; Leadbelly & Woody Guthrie: Two Immortals Remembered - and Saluted in an All-Star Album
The Washington Post; 8/23/1988; Richard Harrington; 787 words
; Today, Columbia Records releases "Folkways: a Vision Shared-A Tribute to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly." It's a bit of a mouthful, but the album is a signal event in American music, not so much because of the stellar performers-among them Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, U2, Little Richard, John Cougar
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 "Weekend Edition - Saturday (NPR)")
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Huddie `Leadbelly' Ledbetter Finally Honored
Weekend Edition - Saturday (NPR); 5/22/1993; 787 words
; 00-00-0000 JOHN BURNETT, Host: The story of Huddie Ledbetter, also known as Leadbelly, has no parallel in American popular music. He grew up in Northern Louisiana, where he picked cotton and perfected a powerful rhythmic style on the 12 string guitar. Twice, he sang his way out of prison. He
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