Born in 1888, {|Huddie Ledbetter|} was the son of a sharecropper; he was born on a Louisiana plantation and learned to play guitar after long days working on his father's farm. After he struck out on his own at the age of 16, {|Ledbetter|}'s life was... Read more

Born in 1888, {|Huddie Ledbetter|} was the son of a sharecropper; he was born on a Louisiana plantation and learned to play guitar after long days working on his father's farm. After he struck out on his own at the age of 16, {|Ledbetter|}'s life was full of adventures, both good and bad and including a murder conviction, but while in prison he picked up the nickname {|Lead Belly|}, and after writing a handful of great songs (and learning a hundred more) that he made his own with his passionate vocal style that melded blues and folk styles and his distinctive 12-string guitar work, he was freed and became one of the most influential folk artists in American music. {|Lead Belly|} recorded literally hundreds of songs over the course of his career (including a number of archival sessions recorded for the Library of Congress), and his music would influence a striking array of artists, from {|Woody Guthrie|}, {|Pete Seeger|}, and {|Odetta|} to {|Van Morrison|}, {|John Fogerty|}, and {|Kurt Cobain|}. {|The Smithsonian Folkways Collection|} is a five-disc box set that represents the first attempt to offer a career-spanning overview of the career of a giant of American music, including 108 tracks, 16 of which see their first release on this collection. ~ Mark Deming Less