Some of you might be interested to know that while Lead Belly is probably more responsible than anyone in history for putting Shreveport, LA on the map, he's barely recognized here. In fact, as I recall, it took a monumental effort to erect a statue of him downtown, and it didn't happen until the 1990's. Only in recent years was a notoriously crime-riddem low income section of town renamed Ledbetter Heights. It has previously been known simply as The Bottoms. I'd wager that a surprisingly large portion of the local population has only a vague notion of who Huddie Ledbetter was or what he contributed to American culture.

The opposite is true of Elvis, who performed here for just a brief period of time back in the 1950's on the old Louisiana Hayride. The locals come as close as possible to claiming him as a native son. The street on which the old Muncipal Auditorium sits (where the Hayride was staged) has been renamed after Elvis, and there's a statue of him outside the auditorium.

Jeff