Died On This Date (January 26, 1948) John A. Lomax / Music Folklorist

John A. Lomax
September 23, 1867 – January 26, 1948

John Lomax was a musicologist who is world-renowned for helping preserve American folk songs by venturing into previous parts unknown to make field recordings of the locals.  After completing his higher education, Lomax became a college professor and set out to document folk music across America.  In 1910, his anthology, Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads was published.  Songs like “Git Along Little Doggies,” “Home On The Range,” and “The Old Chisholm Trail” were  collected within.  In 1933, Lomax and his 18-year-old son, Alan Lomax, set out across Texas to make field recordings of mostly African-Americans.   What they captured was countless field recordings, prison ballads, and work songs.  They were given unprecedented access to prisoners, and in July of 1934, while at Angola prison, they were approached by inmate, Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter to record him singing a song he had written to the Governor pleading for his freedom.   Lomax did just that and personally delivered the recording to the Governor.  Lead Belly was in fact released a short time later, but it had nothing to do with his recording but for his good behavior.  Regardless, thanks to the Lomax recording, Lead Belly went on to have a fairly successful career as the “Singing Convict.”  He is said to have traveled over 16,000 miles, amassing a collection of over 10,000 songs.  John Lomax was 80 when he passed away on January 26, 1948.



Died On This Date (December 6, 1949) Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter

Lead Belly (Born Huddie Ledbetter)
January 20, 1888 – December 6, 1949

leadbelly

Huddie Ledbetter, or as he was better known, Leadbelly (which he spelled, Lead Belly) was a Louisiana-born folk and blues singer, songwriter and musician whose catalog of songs included many that have since become folk and blues standards.  That list includes, “Cotton Fields,” “Goodnight Irene,” and “Midnight Special.”  Those and others have been recorded by such divers artists as of the Weavers, the Beach Boys, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Johnny Cash, the White Stripes, Ministry and Nirvana.  From an early age, Lead Belly honed his skills by absorbing the field songs he heard as he traveled the southern states for work.  He also had first hand experience learning prison hollers by spending two separate terms incarcerated, once for murder, and the second, for attempted murder.  Each time he was pardoned by the governor by literally singing his way to freedom.  While in Angola Prison for his second crime, he was recorded by musicologists, John Lomax and Alan Lomax, who helped facilitate his pardon.   Lead Belly then moved to New York where the Lomax’s helped him land a contract with Columbia Records.  Although he found plenty of press as the “singing convict,” his records never sold much initially.  He did, however find an audience in Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie who helped introduce his music to new audiences during their careers.  Lead Belly continued to struggle financially, and in 1939, he found himself in jail for stabbing a man during a fight.  Alan Lomax again helped him by raising money for his defense.  He ended staying in jail for a couple of more years.  By the middle of the ’40s, he found himself immersed in New York’s blossoming folk scene, playing with the likes of Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry.  In 1949, Lead Belly, 61, was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease of which he died on December 6, 1949.

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Where Did You Sleep Last Night: Lead Belly Legacy, Vol. 1 - Lead Belly