Famed musician Lead Belly was born in Mooringsport, Louisiana, in the late 1880s. Lead Belly was imprisoned in Texas for murder in 1918. According to tradition, he won his early release in 1925 by singing a song for the governor of Texas. Lead Belly was imprisoned again, for attempted murder, in 1930. There, he was "discovered" by folklorists John Lomax and Alan Lomax, who were collecting songs for the Library of Congress. Subsequently, he published 48 songs. (Biography, 2018)
He is renowned for his songs—the best known of which include “Rock Island Line,” “Goodnight, Irene,” “The Midnight Special” and “Cotton Fields”—as well as his prowess on the twelve-string guitar. In his sixty-plus years, he essentially lived two distinct lives: first, as a field worker, blues singer, rambling man and prisoner in the rural South; second, as a city-dwelling folksinger, performer and recording artist in the urban North. It was, however, not until shortly after Lead Belly’s death that a broader public came to know his songs and the mythic outline of his life. (Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, 2018)
10 Licks
Lick 1. Leadbelly - ‘The Bourgeois Blues’
Lick 2. Leadbelly - ‘The Gallis Pole’
Lick 3. Leadbelly - ‘In New Orleans’
Lick 4. Leadbelly - ‘Pretty Flowers In My Backyard’
Lick 5. Leadbelly - ‘The Boll Weevil’
Lick 6. Leadbelly - ‘De Kalb Blues’
Lick 7. Leadbelly - ‘Roberta’
Lick 8. Leadbelly - ‘Kansas City Papa’
Lick 9. Leadbelly - ‘Death Letter Blues’
Lick 10. Leadbelly - ‘My Baby Quit Me’
Licks Transposed
Lick 1. Lead Belly - Key of D
Lick 2. Lead Belly - Key of D
Lick 3. Lead Belly - Key of D
Lick 4. Lead Belly - Key of D
Lick 5. Lead Belly - Key of D
Lick 6. Lead Belly - Key of D
Lick 7. Lead Belly - Key of D
Lick 8. Lead Belly - Key of D
Lick 9. Lead Belly - Key of D
Lick 10. Lead Belly - Key of D
Backing Track
Lead Belly Backing Track - Key of D
Essential Listening
Album cover: Apple Music
Leadbelly - King of the 12-String Guitar
Released in 1991.
Features songs such as Packin’ Trunk, Becky Deem, She Was a Gamblin’ Girl, Roberta and Kansas City Papa.
Album cover: Apple Music
Leadbelly - The Best of Leadbelly
Released in 2003.
Features songs such as Where Did You Sleep Last Night?, The Gallis Pole, Borrow Love and Go and Line ‘Em.
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