Died On This Date (November 25, 2011) Don DeVito / Longtime Columbia Records Executive & Bob Dylan Producer

Don DeVito
September 6, 1939 – November 25, 2011

Getting a shave from Johnny Cash

Don DeVito was a respected producer and label executive who, over a career that spanned five decades, produced landmark albums by Bob Dylan and played a key role in the successes of Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Johnny Cash, Aerosmith, and Simon & Garfunkel, to name a few. After an early career as a musician – he played guitar for Al Kooper – DeVito went to work for CBS Records as part of their Executive Training Program.  The year was 1967, and by 1971, he was running the marketing department of what had recently been re-named Columbia Records.  He later moved over to A&R where he worked more closely with Columbia’s jaw-dropping stable of artists.  In the studio, DeVito produced Dylan’s Desire and Street Legal, among others.   He was nominated for five separate Grammys, winning in 1989 for Folkways: A Vision Shared – A Tribute to Woody Guthrie & Leadbelly.  After the 9/11 attacks on New York City, DeVito was instrumental to the success of The Concert For New York City which raised over $1 million dollars for the victims and their families.  On November 25, 2011, Don DeVito passed away following a long battle with prostate cancer.  He was 72.

Thanks to Harold Lepidus for the assist.

Died On This Date (July 19, 2002) Alan Lomax / Music Historian

Alan Lomax
January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002

Alan Lomax was an ethnomusicologist who, like his sister, Bess Lomax, followed in the footsteps of his father, John A. Lomax by documenting folk music around the world in the form of field recordings.  After he got out of college during the ’30s, the younger Lomax went to work archiving folk music at the Library of Congress.  Around this time, he traveled through the southern states of America to record the local blues and folk musicians.  While visiting a Louisiana prison, he discovered Lead Belly.   Besides making field recordings, Lomax interviewed countless music pioneers.  That list includes Muddy Waters, Jelly Roll Morton, and Woody Guthrie.  He also penned numerous best selling folk music history book.  During the ’50s, Lomax traveled Europe in search of its hidden folk music.  In all, he is said to have recorded thousands of songs.  Alan Lomax was 87 when he passed away on July 19, 2002.

What You Should Own

The Alan Lomax Collection: Prison Songs, Vol. 1 - Murderous Home - Alan Lomax & Various Artists

Died On This Date (April 25, 2010) Susan Reed / Post WWII Folk Star

Susan Reed
January 11, 1926 – April 25, 2010

Susan Reed was a popular American folk singer and musician who came to prominence during the mid-’40s.  She was one of the leading voices during the folk revival that also included Woody Guthrie and Burl Ives.  By the time she was 20, Reed was filling New York City nightclubs with sets that were dominated by Irish ballads accented by her playing the harp and zither.  She released several albums throughout her career, but after being blacklisted during the late ’50s, she pretty much retired from the business.  Susan Reed was 84 when she died of natural causes on April 25, 2010.



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.

What You Should Own

Click to find at amazon.com

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

Died On This Date (November 27, 2009) Bess Lomax Hawes / Folk Musician & Folklorist

Bess Lomax Hawes
January 21, 1921 – November 27, 2009

Bess Lomax Hawes was a folk musician, educator and folklorist.  As the daughter and sister of noted folk historians, John A. Lomax and Alan Lomax, Hawes was never far from the American folk music that she would eventually build her life around.  After graduating from college during the ’40s, Dawes moved to New York City where she immersed herself in the thriving folk scene.  She became a guitarist and singer for the politically charged Almanac Singers, a folk group that included Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and future husband, Butch Hawes.  During WWII, Hawes worked as a radio programmer for the United States Office of War Information.  During the ’50s, she moved to the Los Angeles area where she continued to play local clubs and began teaching at a college that would later become California State University, Northridge.  In later years, Hawes worked for the Smithsonian Institute and the National Endowment for the Arts.  As a songwriter, her most famous song was 1948’s “M.T.A.,” co-written with Jacqueline Steiner.  It later became a hit for the Kingston Trio.   Bess Lomax Hawes was 88 when she died following a stroke on November 27, 2009.