ARC and Library Of Congress Recordings Vol 1 - Lead Belly (1934-1935)

Ideated from: a Black History Month reminder that black artists largely built the modern world of music

I don’t feature a lot of artists here who were born in the 19th century, but Huddie Ledbetter (1888-1949) had a profound influence on 20th century folk music.

There’s a long explanation I could go into here about his friendship with Woodie Guthrie, and how songs by and for work-a-day people fed into the workers’ rights and socialist movements of the early 20th century, and about the similarities and differences between the experiences of black men and white men in these movements. If any of that interests you, I’d highly recommend a particular book.

Ledbetter was recorded by both the American Record Corporation–a commercial recording company who saw him as “race music” and didn’t release much of what they had in his lifetime–and by John and Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress’s folk song project.

Here we get the man in his prime, but right at the beginning of the era of recorded music. He’s playing part of his encyclopedic knowledge of early American song. A pretty interesting document.