Leadbelly

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Huddie Ledbetter (23 January 1888-6 December 1949) was a leading American blues singer and guitarist. His songbook contained a large number of standard folk tunes, most adapted from previous sources.

Though many of his posthumous releases list him as “Leadbelly,” he himself spelled it “Lead Belly.” This is also the usage on most of his original records, tombstone, as well as of the Lead Belly Foundation.

Leadbelly was born in Mooringsport, Louisiana, and spent time in and out of prison most of his life. In 1933, serving a sentence for attempted murder, musicologists John and Alan Lomax “discovered” him on a field recording tour sponsored by the Library of Congress. That summer, he was pardoned by the governor of Lousiana after recording his plea for pardon on a record, together with “Good Night Irene”. Leadbelly went on to make hundreds of recordings of all sorts of different songs: country, blues, spirituals, reels, and work chants.
His songs have been covered by Mark Lanegan, The Animals, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Nirvana, Lonnie Donegan, Johnny Cash, Gene Autry, The Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin, British Sea Power, Ram Jam, Ry Cooder, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Half Man Half Biscuit, Tom Waits, Shocking Blue and The White Stripes.

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Popular tags: blues, folk, delta blues, classic blues, acoustic  See more

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1		Where Did You Sleep Last Night?			694
2		Midnight Special			309
3		Rock Island Line			192
4		Black Betty			189
5		Bourgeois Blues			169
6		Good Morning Blues			147
7		Goodnight Irene			143
8		Pick A Bale Of Cotton			138
8		The Gallis Pole			138
10		Irene (Goodnight Irene)			125
11		John Hardy			105
12		Roberta			86
13		Alabama Bound			85
14		Alberta			83
15		Big Fat Woman			80

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