Josh White: Jim Crow Blues

Josh White, like Leadbelly, was a country blues singer from the early part of the 20^th century who found new life and success as a part of the Sixties folk boom. White was born in Greenville, South Carolina, in 1915, and made his recording debut in 1932 with “Baby Won’t You Doodle-Doo-Doo.”

White recorded for number of labels including Perfect and Melotone in the Thirties during his initial incarnation as a country blues performer. In the early Forties White’s music became some of the first African-American music to find acceptance among a white audience when he scored a million-selling single with his song, “One Meatball,” in 1944.

By the Forties White had become a civil rights leader, and in fact, became a close confidant of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. During the decade, White became the first African-American performer to perform at previously segregated clubs, and he later became the first folk/blues performer to appear on a U.S. postage stamp. White also appeared on Broadway as Blind Lemon Jefferson in the musical, “John Henry.” White’s appearance on Broadway brought him to the attention of the New York City folk crowd which at that time included Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly and Burl Ives.

By the late Fifties, White was a fixture in the Folk revival and was recording more folk-oriented material. White continued performing in folk music festivals and toured the world up until his death, in 1969.

The best collections of White’s music include, “Chain Gang” (1940), “Ballads and Blues” (1946), and the great collection of civil rights tunes, “Southern Exposure: An album of Jim Crow Blues Sung by Josh White” (1941).

Woody Guthrie: This Land is Your Land

Woody Guthrie was the most important figure in the history of American folk music. Guthrie was more than a singer and musician. He was a real-life incarnation of John Steinbeck’s character of Tom Joad from the Grapes of Wrath and a committed left-wing political activist.

Guthrie was born in Okemah, Oklahoma in 1912. When he was 14 he began playing the guitar and harmonica and learned the English and Scottish folk songs from the parents of his friends. Despite being a bright student, Guthrie dropped out of high school and started busking on streets. When he was eighteen his father called for him to come to Texas to attend school, but Guthrie spent his time busking and reading in the library.  By 1930, Guthrie joined thousands of other “Okies” (Oklahomans) who were migrating to California to search for work and escape the “dust bowl” drought that plagued Oklahoma.

In California, Guthrie worked odd jobs, and by the end of the thirties, he had managed to land a job playing folk and “hillbilly” music on the radio. At this time he would write the songs about his experiences during the dustbowl era migration to California that would later become his legendary collection of dustbowl ballads. In 1936, he would begin to perform at communist party events in California, and although he never joined the party, he would later be tagged as a communist.

By the 1940s, Guthrie was in New York City, and his “Oklahoma cowboy” nickname and reputation endeared him to the leftist folk music community in the city. He would record his album, “Dust Bowl Ballads” (1940) for the Victor Records in Camden, New Jersey, shortly after his arrival. The album has long been hailed as a superb document of an episode of American history told by a man who lived it. Guthrie would also record for Alan Lomax of the Library of Congress, singing and speaking about his adventures of the dust bowl period of ten years before.

Guthrie would land another radio job in New York, this time as the host of the “Pipe Smoking Time” show which was sponsored by a tobacco company. He also appeared on CBS radio on the program, “Back Where I Came From”. He managed to get a sopt on the show for his friend, the legendary black folk singer, Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter. By 1941, Guthrie was off to Washington State to write and perform songs about the construction of Grand Coulee Dam in the employ of the American Department of the Interior. Guthrie wrote 26 songs for a film which was to be produced about the project, but the film never came to fruition. The songs, “Pastures of Plenty” and “Grand Coulee Dam” would become well known nonetheless.

In 1944, Guthrie met Moses Asch of Folkways Records for whom Guthrie would record hundreds of songs including the first recording of perhaps his best known tune, “This Land is Your Land”. Folkways would later release these songs in various collections.

By the mid 1950s, Guthrie’s health was deteriorating with the onset of Huntington’s disease. He was eventually bedridden in Bellevue Hospital, and in 1960 was visited by a very young and awestruck admirer, Bob Dylan.

Leadbelly Songs: Penitentiary Blues

Leadbelly is a legendary figure in both the fields of folk music and the blues. Leadbelly’s life is the stuff of American popular legend. He was a hard man who was convicted of murder and spent much of his early adult life in prison. While in prison, he worked in chain gangs doing hard labor.

Leadbelly is remembered for his twelve-string guitar virtuosity and his catalogue of songs, both blues and folk that he either wrote or collected on his travels in the early days of the 20^th century. Among Leadbelly’s most famous songs are: “Good Night Irene,” “Black Betty,” “Midnight Special,” “On a Monday,” “Pick a Bale of Cotton,” “Green Corn,” and “Stewball.”

Leadbelly was born Huddie Ledbetter in Mooringsport, Louisiana, in 1885. By the time he was five-years-old, his family had settled in Bowie County, Texas. Leadbelly learned the guitar in childhood, and by 1903, he was performing in Shreveport, Louisiana, clubs and steadily honing his craft. The wide range of music which Leadbelly heard in Shreveport had an indelible influence on his music. In 1912, following the sinking of the Titanic, Leadbelly wrote a song about the ship noting that African-American boxer, Jack Johnson, was denied the right to sail on the ship and was able to live out his life as a result.

In 1915, Leadbelly landed in trouble when he was convicted of carrying a pistol. Three years later, his volatile temper exploded, and he killed one of his relatives, Will Stafford, in a fistfight over a woman. He was sentenced to imprisonment in the Sugar Land prison near Houston, where he served 7 years. A song written for the Texas governor and his performances for fellow prisoners helped to earn him an early release. He was released in 1925, but would wind up back in prison at Angola Prison Farm, in 1930, for attempted murder, after he had knifed a white man in a fight. Between his stints in prison, Leadbelly traveled around Texas with blues master, Blind Lemon Jefferson, playing music and acting as Jefferson’s guide.

In 1933, John Lomax of the Library of Congress “discovered” Leadbelly in Angola and recorded him on primitive recording equipment. Lomax would return the following year with better recording equipment and record hundreds of songs from Leadbelly’s vast repertoire of blues and folk tunes. Later that year, Leadbelly was released for good behavior and accompanied Lomax on several song collecting excursions through the American South.

Later in 1934, Leadbelly landed a recording deal with ARC Records, and recorded blues material. His recordings were commercially unsuccessful, and he returned to Louisiana. In 1936, Leadbelly traveled to New York where he tried to appeal to black audiences in Harlem’s Apollo Theatre by playing the blues. He failed to win over the Apollo audiences, but began to attract attention from the white leftist folk crowd.

In 1939, Leadbelly landed in trouble again, this time for stabbing a man in a fight in Manhattan-a crime which landed him in jail again for two years. Upon his release in 1941, Leadbelly became a fixture on the New York folk club scene, appearing with other folk luminaries such as Josh White, Brownie McGhee, Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger. In 1944, Leadbelly went to California where he made a series of excellent recordings for Capital Records. Leadbelly contracted Lou Gehrig’s disease in 1949 and died later that year in New York City.

Leadbelly’s music is best heard on the compilations, “Last Sessions” (1953), “Sings Folk Songs” (1962), “Leadbelly” (1965), “Midnight Special” (1991), “King of the 12-String Guitar” (1991) and “Where Did You Sleep Last Night: Leadbelly Legacy Vol 1.” (1996), and “The Definitive Leadbelly” (2008).