Nothing But The Blues XI
The Story of Leadbelly is one of the most amazing stories of the 'early blues' ever! Leadbelly was, in many ways, the complete opposite of all his contemporaries. Every one from his generation was born in a very poor and big family. They made there own first instrument, or got an old worn down instrument from a relative. Worked hard on the fields and eventually used the music, Blues, to get away from that all.Leadbelly, born as Huddie William Ledbetter, was an only child to well off parents. He had former lessons on several instruments. By the time he was 26 he was 'fluent' on at least 4 instruments among which his favorite, the 12 string guitar. Yes, if for most of these old guys the Blues was a way to get away from the daily misery and poverty, for Leadbelly it was the way to get into trouble.
This box gives three possible explanations for the nickname Leadbelly. Explanation number 1 is the most likely one, but the dullest one as well. Leadbelly is just an abbreviation of his family name. Explanation number two is that he was named after his (very) muscular build. Explanation number three is the one which makes the best story. Leadbelly nickname was the result of a gunshot wound in his belly.
Leadbelly was 'discovered' by John Lomax, the father of Allan. When they met John was very impressed by Leadbelly's extensive knowledge of tradition music, folk and Blues. It is said that, at that time, Leadbelly knew over 500 songs by heart.
On this disc are some interesting Leadbelly recordings. Some are Leadbelly originals (tracks 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 14 and 15), there are some traditionals (tracks 8 and 16) and the rest (tracks 1, 9, 13 and 17) are written together with father or son, or both, Lomax. All recordings date from somewhere between 1934 and 1945.
Listen to this powerful voice, this guitar picking.
Listen to track #1, Good morning Blues, and then say that Rock & Roll doesn't come from Blues. Every rocker still starts with this riff.
The password = "scrooge".
Please delete these files within 24 hours. If you like this music buy the album and support the industry
posted by Scrooge at
1:00 am
2 Comments:
Having just today stumbled across your excellent blog, and spent some considerable time here 'catching up' and savouring the delights, I would like to express my extreem gratitude and appreciation of your efforts. Keep sharing the great music (the 40cd set is certainly interesting) I will definitely be a regular visitor and best wishes for a long bloglife.
By
Anonymous, at 12:30 am
Thank you very much for your kind words, and a warm welcome!
I promise that the 40CD-collection is worth downloading. And there is more to follow. (I´ve got a 53CD series somewhere to follow).
But make sure you get the ´ín betweens´ as well. Some of that stuff is absolute great stuff.
By
Scrooge, at 1:27 pm
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