Huddie Ledbetter...Tell me about 'em!

Subject: Huddie Ledbetter...Tell me about 'em!
From: GaryD
Date: 05 Apr 99 - 12:11 AM

Got some tapes from the library called "Ledbetter's last sessions..." basically someone just had tape recorder and he sang dozens & dozens of his songs.. Must have been just before he died.. I was stunned to find out how many of the songs I know & sing originated with him!

I know very little about the man, & I've heard strange tales about his life, & including something about him being pardoned because of his musical talent. Any truth to any of this? Tell me anything you can about him.. I'd like to know.. thanks... Gary

Subject: RE: Huddie Ledbetter...Tell me about 'em!
From: catspaw49
Date: 05 Apr 99 - 12:21 AM

Well Gary, you can start here by typing in Ledbetter in the filter box at the top and refresh for 365 days. Leadbelly will work too.

Go to your local library and look ... you will find a wealth of info in even moderate size libraries. The Lomax books are a place to start.

Just doing those 2 things will net you a ton of info on Leadbelly.

catspaw

Subject: RE: Huddie Ledbetter...Tell me about 'em!
From: catspaw49
Date: 05 Apr 99 - 12:41 AM

Sorry the filter doesn't do it and before I send you to the Forum Search, I'd like to be sure it works...and right now mine isn't...on anything!?!?

Trust me on the library though.

catspaw

Subject: RE: Huddie Ledbetter...Tell me about 'em!
From: catspaw49
Date: 05 Apr 99 - 12:43 AM

Also, have you read the artist bio at the top of the main forum thread page? Click the arrow on the dropdown menu and click on Leadbelly (click here).

catspaw

Subject: RE: Huddie Ledbetter...Tell me about 'em!
From: Dr John
Date: 05 Apr 99 - 10:01 AM

Hi Gary D. Try the book "The Life & Legend of Leadbelly" by Charles Wolfe and Kip Lornell (Harper Collins). Even if some of the songs didn't actually originate with Lead Belly, he certainly collected and helped spread them. As did Lonnie donegan as a second generation as it were. An academic point but they weren't his last seesions in fact. There are lots of recordings available; unfortunately (as is often the case) the better the artistic quality the poorer is the technical sound quality and vice vesa. Dr John

Subject: RE: Huddie Ledbetter...Tell me about 'em!
From: GaryD
Date: 06 Apr 99 - 12:01 AM

I hear you...thanks for your suggestions...I'll check them out. You're right, of course as far as sound quality.. I have a friend who is appalled at the quality of a vast majority of my recordings.. His opinion must be "if it's not digital, it's not worth hearing...!" I don't agree.

I have another friend who's opinion is more closely linked to mine. He says that when an artist gets "slick", he loses most of the creativity he had in the early days.. He uses Kenny Rogers as an example.... He says if you listen to his early songs with the old groups he performed with and earlier, you hear some very interesting and creative music that he made. After he found the "pattern" & became "slick" though, songs like Lucille & The Gambler are good, they all sound alike... and he lost that very creative spirit he had in the beginning.. Am I right?...

I'm glad to say, I've never actually heard a Ledbetter recording where I got that feeling.

Subject: RE: Huddie Ledbetter...Tell me about 'em!
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 06 Apr 99 - 02:04 AM

Hi Gary, Leadbelly, in my opinion was the most creative folk musician I ever heard. He played lines (and chords) that are original and without precident. VERY few musicians don't give a lot of clues about where their styles came from. The "last sessions" albums still thrill me after 35 years!

Subject: RE: Huddie Ledbetter...Tell me about 'em!
From: Dr John
Date: 06 Apr 99 - 02:25 PM

Gary, I agree that artists after a while tend to get slick and loose "it". It may be to increase sales and profit, I suppose, or maybe they just get lost in the technicallity of producing music and forget to listen to the end product. Too "clever" in other words. Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie, Ewan McColl, Nic Jones and others kept "it": I've just been listening to some Sis Cunningham tracks recorded in '75 and as fresh as her Almanac work. In some cases it may be that their careers were sadly very short. Pete Seeger had it, lost it and got it back: some of the popular stuff with the Weevers was truely dire - but he's still there! Dr John.

Subject: RE: Huddie Ledbetter...Tell me about 'em!
From: GaryD
Date: 07 Apr 99 - 10:32 AM

How right you are!... Pete is still to me the biggest impact on my musical life... I always loved that he tries to promote all music, with the beliefs and convictions that he has for the despairing & downtrodden. I love the comment he made to the House UnAmerican committee when he was being investigated as a possible communist during that strange time. They asked him if he'd ever sung for the W.E.B. Dubois (sp?) clubs and other "so called" subversive organizations. He said sure! I sing for "ANYBODY"! And he DOES...

One of my greatest musical pleasures was when I sent him a tape requesting he perform here at a folk festival in Central MN. In the process, I sent him a lot of stuff that I had recorded along with a song I sang myself in a Scandinavian accent; originated by a local character named Slim Jim. It was about 3 Swedes who were taken and robbed by Hannah & Anna & Lana when they took them dancing.

I didn't really expect a response, but I got a letter saying Pete loved my song & wondered if Swedes would be offended by it if they published such a song in Sing Out!

I am glad there are people out there like the Seegers & Ledbetters who keep their integrity.. It's also nice to see a lot of you here on Mudcat!... Keep on the Sunny Side!....Gary