Leadbelly.

Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly

In a book somewhere, I have a photo of Richard Dyer-Bennet and Leadbelly (both nattily dressed in suits and ties) playing and singing a duet. Man, I wish I could have heard that! I think the pic was taken at the 1946 Swarthmore Folk Festival. Dyer-Bennet and Leadbelly, it seems, were good friends. Dyer-Bennet, who performed at the 1945 festival, suggested that they get Leadbelly for the '46 festival, which they did.

Don Firth