Leadbelly-Negro Sinful Songs (1939)

Huddie William Ledbetter, better known as Leadbelly, was the quintessential chronicler of rural blues, folk, and gospel music. Like the troubadours of the Middle Ages, he traveled extensively throughout rural America, spreading traditional American music. Born in 1889 in Louisiana, he began his career playing the accordion, enlivening neighborhood dances. Over time, he moved on to guitar, piano, and violin, entertaining at parties and gatherings across much of the southern United States. During one of these rural tours, he was accused of killing a man after a fight and sentenced to more than fifteen years in prison. However, his time in prison, punctuated by several periods of parole, allowed him to record some of his songs for the Library of Congress songs that dealt with prison life. Although his recordings were never commercially successful, his extensive repertoire includes more than a hundred songs, from his earliest known recordings in 1935 until almost the end of the 1940s. Leadbelly died on December 6, 1949, at the age of 61 in New York City. His legacy and influence have been felt for the last seven decades by musicians such as Bob Dylan, The Animals, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Johnny Cash, Van Morrison, Elvis Presley, Ry Cooder, and Johnny Rivers, among many others. In 1988, Leadbelly was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2008 into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.