JSP's four-CD Leadbelly box is an appropriately massive monument to a man whose power and intensity sometimes threatened to overwhelm the recording technology of his day. Ninety-six sides skim the surface of his prolific output during the last 15 years of Huddie Ledbetter's life, beginning with a selection from the Lomax field recordings cut during the summer of 1934 at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, and ending with an excerpt from a live concert at the University of Texas in Austin six months before his death in 1949. Forty-three examples from the Library of Congress sessions skim the surface of his sizable contribution to that archive, and are followed by a judicious selection of records he cut for seven commercial labels during a period when his brusque delivery was generally considered too brash and bracing for the average American listener. For a potent distillation of the man's approach to life and music, go directly to the hypnotically paced "Leaving on the Morning Train Blues" (disc 1 track 19), a nearly-ten-minute narrative that develops into Ledbetter's definitive statement on the blues as a possessing entity.
Virtually every facet of Leadbelly's repertoire is solidly represented here. He was an accomplished storyteller who specialized in folk ballads and ditties, as well as topical pieces inspired by current events and social protest songs that helped to fuel the emerging modern civil rights movement. There are love songs and work songs, many of them tracing back to slavery, plantations, prisons, and chain gangs. Leadbelly's Bluebird, Asch, and Capitol recordings include collaborations with the harmonizing Golden Gate Quartet, guitarist Josh White, and blues harpist Sonny Terry. While in Hollywood in 1944, he recorded for Capitol with Western swing sideman Paul Mason Howard, fresh from his tenure with Tennessee Ernie Ford and heard here on autoharp. A 1946 session for the east coast Disc label has him backed by Terry, Brownie McGhee, New Orleans bassist Pops Foster, and a nearly inaudible Willie "The Lion" Smith. Leadbelly's own multi-instrumentalism is documented by his concertina ("John Hardy" and "Corn Bread Rough"), barrelhouse piano ("Eagle Rock Rag") and tap dancing ("Green Corn"). From the very opening of "Western Cowboy," Leadbelly's voice has an elemental, penetrating quality that wells up throughout the entire collection. Note that "In New Orleans" is better known as "House of the Rising Sun," and "Gallis Pole" is the taproot of the popular Led Zeppelin version and a later visitation by Alvin Youngblood Hart. For even greater immersion in Leadbelly's music, try Document's multi-volume survey which digs deeper into the Library of Congress strata. There you will find (on Vol. 4, DOCD 5594) the original 1935 two-part realization of "Whoa Back Buck (Whoa Goddamn)", the exciting prologue to the version he recorded with the Golden Gate Quartet in June 1940. In this way, JSP's Leadbelly box becomes a portal through which the rest of his legacy is clearly discernable. - -arwulf arwulf, AllMusic
trax Disc 1:
01. Western Cowboy 02. Blind Lemon Blues 03. Midnight Special 04. Irene 05. C.C. Rider 06. Governor O.K. Allen 07. Julie Ann Johnson 08. I'm Sorry Mama 09. Take A Whiff On Me 10. Boll Weevil 11. The Titanic 12. Green Corn 13. Po' Howard 14. De Kalb Blues 15. Frankie And Albert 16. Queen Mary 17. The Hindenburg Disaster (Part 1) 18. The Hindenburg Disaster (Part 2) 19. Leaving On The Morning Train Blues 20. The Bourgeois Blues
trax Disc 2:
01. Roberta (Part 1) 02. Roberta (Part 2) 03. Packin' Trunk Blues 04. C.C. Rider 05. Becky Deem, She Was A Gamblin' Girl 06. Honey, I'm All Out And Down 07. Four Day Worry Blues 08. You Can't Lose Me, Charlie 09. New Black Snake Moan 10. Alberta 11. Baby, Don't You Love Me No More 12. Ox Drivin' Blues 13. Death Letter Blues (Part 1) 14. Death Letter Blues (Part 2) 15. Kansas City Papa 16. Red River Blues 17. Forth Worth And Dallas Blues 18. You Don't Know My Mind 19. Daddy I'm Coming Back To You 20. My Friend Blind Lemon 21. Mr. Tom Hughes' Town 22. Shorty George 23. Matchbox Blues 24. Yellow Jacket 25. T.B. Woman Blues
trax Disc 3:
01. Pig Meat Papa 02. Bull Cow 03. My Baby Quit Me 04. Frankie And Albert (Part 1) 05. Frankie And Albert (Part 2) 06. Poor Howard - Green Corn 07. The Gallis Pole 08. Pick A Bale Of Cotton 09. Whoa Back, Buck 10. Midnihgt Special 11. Rock Island Line 12. Good Morning Blues 13. T.B. Blues 14. Red Cross Store Blues 15. Sail On, Little Girl, Sail On 16. I'm On My Last Go-Round 17. New York City 18. Grey Goose 19. Stew Ball 20. Take This Hammer 21. Can't You Line 'Em 22. Ham An' Eggs 23. On A Monday 24. John Henry 25. How Long 26. Ain't You Glad
trax Disc 4:
01. John Hardy 02. Where Did You Sleep Last Night 03. Pretty Flowers In Your Backyard 04. In New Orleans 05. Outskirts Of Town 06. Mother's Blues (Little Children Blues) 07. In The Evenin' When The Sun Goes Down 08. Jim Crow Blues 09. Mr. Hitler 10. Corn Bread Rough 11. Ella Speed 12. Rock Island Line 13. Tell Me Baby 14. Take This Hammer 15. Irene (Goodnight Irene) 16. On A Christmas Day 17. Backwater Blues 18. Eagle Rock Rag 19. Sweet Mary Blues 20. Grasshoppers In My Pillow 21. Diggin' My Potatoes 22. Defense Blues 23. Easy Rider 24. Pigmeat 25. Howard Hughes 26. Shine On Me
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