Leadbelly's Last Sessions [Box]

Performer: Leadbelly
Engineer: Frederic Ramsey, Jr.
Producer: Anthony Seeger; Matt Walters
Distributor: Ryko Distribution

Notes: Personnel includes: Leadbelly (vocals, acoustic guitar). Recorded between September and November, 1948. Originally released on Folkways (241/2941, 242/2942). Includes liner notes by Frederic Ramsey, Jr. Moses Asch, Sean Killeen, Anthony Seeger, Jeff Place and Matt Walters. Legend has it that when Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter was shown one of the first commercially available tape recorders--as opposed to the then-standard disc-cutting machines--in the fall of 1948, he immediately sat down in front of it for a marathon impromptu recording session. This fact comes across on the first of these discs taken from those tapes: most of its 35 tracks are traditional blues hollers without even his trademark 12-string guitar for accompaniment. The other three discs are jam-packed with songs, fragments, and often fascinating conversations. Rather than edit the material--which the listener can do quite nicely with a programmable CD player and blank cassettes--the archivists at Smithsonian/Folkways wisely chose to release these four hours of material exactly as it was recorded. As a result, the sound quality is occasionally a bit dodgy, but the historical import and musical quality of these recordings are undeniable.

Q (3/95, p.118) - 3 Stars - Good - "...though these were his last recordings, they were his first made on magnetic tape and the medium's fidelity communicates a greater intimacy than was achieved on his many other recordings..." Vibe (12/99, p.158) - Included in Vibe's 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century

The embodiment of the link between folk and blues, Lousiana-born Leadbelly (Huddie Ledbetter) possessed a powerful voice and the creative fervor to fashion his observations and heartfelt passions into riveting songs. An itinerant singer/guitarist, he performed in between working odd jobs and spending time in prison for his violent outbursts. Twice he gained pardon from long prison sentences with his songs. After Leadbelly's second pardon, in 1934, the recordings folklorist Alan Lomax made of him brought the singer national success. Whether conscious of his influence or not, nearly all folk and blues singers can trace their musical lineage back to him. He's responsible for many songs that have become part of America's cultural heritage.

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