Leadbelly

First off, I would like to offer a disclaimer to the fact that my most recently played list is quite often absolutely horrid. I am a nanny, so the kids have their own playlists on my computer. hehe. Don't want anyone thinkin' that's ME. :) In my opinion, one of the most influential blues and folk artists of the 20th century, providing material for so many famous artists, including The Rolling Stones, Nirvana, Van Morrison, Led Zeppelin, and The White Stripes, is Leadbel... MORE

References to this song kept cropping up in the Lead Belly biography I'm reading, so I figured I should look it up. As indicated there, as with many songs in the South, this song figured prominently in the repertoire of both blacks and whites. The book also notes that cocaine wasn't illegal in those days (teens, twentys), but I don't think it told me when the drug became illicit and through what mechanism. The lyrics that follow are ascribed to Lead Belly's renditions of t... MORE

liner notes This recording is a testament to two men, the Louisiana African-American musician and composer, Lead Belly, and a New York recording engineer and record company owner named Moses Asch. Their partnerrship created a lasting document of Lead Belly's wide repertoire. The songs Lead Belly recorded for Asch had a great influuence on the folk music revival to come in the 1950s and 1960s and have become standards that are sung in schools and around the camp fire. Whe... MORE

The train from Houston to San Antonio, approximating the route of Alternate 90, would arrive in Sugar Land at midnight, it's light shining brightly. Prisoners imagined it was their passage to freedom. -Mark D. LacyIf you're ever down in HoustonBoy, you better walk rightAnd you better not squabbleAnd you better not fight Bason and Brock will arrest youPayton and Boone will take you downYou can bet your bottom dollarThat you're Sugar Land bound Let the Midnight SpecialShi... MORE

This is a nice one I just happened upon en route to someplace else. Here Leadbelly is paired with the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet.

from WikipediaLead Belly's boastful spirit and penchant for the occasional skirmish sometimes led him into trouble with the law, and in January 1918 he was thrown into prison for the second time, this time after killing one of his relatives, Will Stafford, in a fight. He was incarcerated in Sugar Land, Texas and it is there that he got the inspiration for the song Midnight Special.[1] It is said that he was released two years into his 35-year sentence after writing a song ... MORE

I don't know much about Blues, but a while back, out of nowhere, I had a craving. So I asked some trusted friends for help on where to start. I was given many really good suggestions. But someone recommended Leadbelly's King of the 12 String Guitar. From first listen, I was hooked. Also, if you get a chance, look him up on Wiki...he led a very interesting life. The sound quality is not perfect, but being that it was recorded somewhere around the 1930's...you'll have ... MORE

My favorite thing about music is how nerdy it makes me sometimes. I am fairly sure you all know exactly what I mean: you hear a song and you just "geek-out" (that feeling like a lightning bolt of fucking electricity is blasting through the synapses in your brain and shooting all the way down to your toes, when you have an enormous smile on your face and you just want to jump out and shout to the world how wonderful a song is, how wonderful a song can be....you want eve... MORE

I reposted this article because it seems like a perfect discussion piece for you moggers out there. Click on the link so the author at least gets their props or whatever click throughs provide...
This Article was originally published over at the New Statesman, which you can find here
Keeping it unreal
We consider the "primitive" music of blues singers such as Leadbelly to be more authentic than that of the Monkees. But all pop musicians are fakes
Faking It: the quest for aut... MORE

I have been loving all of the blues and OLD TIME jazz stuff that has been popping up on MOG for the last week or so. I have been checking out a lot of blues myself lately, and the more you listen to the greats...the more you realize that that stuff set the table for most of what we listen to today. No matter what genre of popular music you like, it has deep roots in stuff like this:

Just in case there's someome out there who's never heard of one of the all-time greatest singer-songwriters ..... and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadbelly

pickin' cotton never sounded like so much 'fun' ... . . lol