Lead Belly Essay

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Lead Belly
Famed musician Lead Belly was born in Mooringsport, Louisiana, in the late 1880s. Lead Belly was imprisoned in Texas for murder in 1918. According to tradition, he won his early release in 1925 by singing a song for the governor of Texas. Lead Belly was imprisoned again, for attempted murder, in 1930. There, he was "discovered" by folklorists John Lomax and Alan Lomax who were collecting songs for the Library of Congress. Subsequently, he published 48 songs.

NAME: Lead Belly
OCCUPATION: Murderer, Songwriter,Guitarist, Singer
BIRTH DATE: January 29, 1889
DEATH DATE: December 06, 1949
DID YOU KNOW?: Lead Belly was known as the King of the 12-String Guitar.
PLACE OF BIRTH: Mooringsport, Louisiana
PLACE OF DEATH: New York, New York
ORIGINALLY: Huddie William Ledbetter
AKA: Huddie Ledbetter
AKA: Lead Belly
NICKNAME: King of the 12-String Guitar

BEST KNOWN FOR
Lead Belly was a folk-blues singer, songwriter and guitarist whose ability to perform a vast repertoire of songs and notoriously violent life made him a legend.

Early Years
Huddie Ledbetter, better known as "Lead Belly," was born in the late 1880s in a country setting in northwest Louisiana. He attended school in Texas until around age 13, playing in a school band, and then worked the land with his father.

He began learning how to play musical instruments as a youth and eventually focused on the guitar, performing as a teenager at local dances. At age 16, he headed out across the Deep South, settling in Shreveport, Louisiana, for two years, where he supported himself as a musician. Around 1912, now living in Dallas with his new wife, Ledbetter met Blind Lemon Jefferson, an accomplished street musician, and the pair began playing together. It was at this point that Ledbetter concentrated on what would become his signature instrument: the 12-string guitar.

The Prisoner
In December 1917, Ledbetter was arrested and charged with murder and was found guilty. Prison is where it seems he picked up the nickname Lead Belly. In early 1924, only a few years into a 20-year sentence, Lead Belly sang for Texas governor Pat Neff a song in which he asked for a pardon. A year later, Neff pardoned Lead Belly and he was a free man.

Only five years later, Lead Belly was involved in a stabbing incident that led to "assault with intent to murder" charges and another prison sentence. Budget issues causes by the Great Depression allowed him to apply for early release, which he did, and the sitting governor approved the
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