Important Recordings 1934-1949 [Box]

Performer: Leadbelly
Distributor: E1 Distribution (USA)

Notes: Despite its sensational cover art, which plays up the American folk legend's time served in jail, this U.K. four-CD box set is a comprehensive overview of Leadbelly's best-known recordings, including John and Alan Lomax's 1930s tapes made for the Library of Congress and the artist's later 1940s recordings, done with a quartet and the harmonica player Sonny Terry. Favorites like "Goodnight Irene," "Rock Island Line," and "Pick a Bale of Cotton" sit alongside more contemporary material like "Howard Hughes," about the eccentric millionaire's flying exploits, and "The Bourgeois Blues" (later recorded by Ry Cooder, among others) about Leadbelly's racially charged visit to the nation's capital.

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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