I get so tired of the criticisms of John A. and Alan Lomax. The Old Man died before I was born, but my mother and father knew him, and, of course Alan was a good friend to both my parents.
Respect is the issue. The Lomaxes respected the literary and musical merits of the wide range of "American Folk Music" when others did not. They respected the musicians who made that music. If they had not, we would not know the names of Huddie Ledbetter or Texas Gladden or many others, or know the music they made. Do you know what it took for properly raised white town dwellers to choose as life's work going into rural (black&white), poor(b&w), communities and ASK TO BE TAUGHT by those folks? Do you know the invective that was aimed at family members for following that line of work? (The 2 John A's and Alan were/are not the only family members so engaged, btw.) We have a world of music, recorded and on paper, that we would not have without the respect of the Lomax family for the musicians and the music. And without the inspiration of their work there are countless others who would not have followed their own interesting stars into the same field of work.
In re Leadbelly, himself: Mother knew and worked with him in several capacities for several years before his death. He visited in our home. He died when I was 5-and-a-half. Once, when we were reminiscing about those years Mama mentioned the criticisms she received from several women in the community for receiving a black man as a visitor in her home -- and an ex-convict/murderer, etc. Mama told one of the women to her face that she (Mama) wasn't afraid to be alone with Leadbelly, or to leave me (her daughter) alone with him -- but she couldn't say the same about the husbands of some of the women doing the criticising!!    Tw