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Leadbelly was one of the most influential and archetypal artists of the Blues tradition, and the breadth of this compilation serves as a fine introduction for those unfamiliar with his work. More scholar-oriented compilations abound- witness his Library of Congress catalog- this cd is clearly intended to distill a huge repertoire into a 15-track summary. What is most impressive about this collection is that it reminds the listener that blues is not a single musical style, but more properly a genre:
A collection of related styles descended from a parent culture. And many of those styles that developed up until Leadbelly's death in 1949 are well represented here.
Born to sharecropper parents in the later 1880s in Louisiana, Huddie Ledbetter lived the life which would eventually become the archetypal Bluesman character: semiliterate, often in trouble with the law, and with a constitution of steel. This is really only a one-sided description: Leadbelly was a shrewd, intelligent man, and far from the hapless cotton-boy stereotype, was a deliberate participant in the preservation of these musics for posterity. 'Musics', because there are a number of discernible styles represented here. In addition, he was also a politically active founding member of the WWII-era folk scene in New York, along with Woodie Guthrie, Sonny Terry, and the others of that scene. This is also alluded to on this compilation.
As stated above, the defining characteristic of this collection is its insistence that Blues and Folk did not start out with the intention of being the rustic musics, respectively, of Blacks and Whites. Blues started as a folk (read: unpretentious) music (communication): a form of social commentary and documentation. The producers of this cd remind us over and over again how Black Folk melodies- minstrel songs, street performance, work songs, ballads, and so forth- became the the genus of the larger genre we know today as Blues. In 2001, the shift in perception through the 1900s of what 'folk' means is remarkable.
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At the time needle touched wax for these sessions, they could easily have been considered one in the same.
Case in point: the disc begins with 'In New Orleans', recently known in altered and somewhat overwrought form as 'House of the Rising Sun'. Also, the pioneering recording of 'Goodnight Irene' is included here, digitally cleaned up and sung with quavering gravity: A must for the folkophile. Wry social commentary is included with the priceless 'Bourgeois Blues': a seething indictment of the pat smugness of mediocre position and racial righteousness. A fantastic medley of field hollers includes the original 'Black Betty', dubiously reinvented by Ram Jam for a hit in 1977. Two versions are included of the song 'John Hardy'- one on guitar, one on squeezebox- illustrating the fluidity of his delivery. Perhaps the best track is 'Gallis Pole', which is both a documentary of the southern prison experience, and a deadly 12 string guitar piece. There are definitely some gems here.
By all accounts, Leadbelly was a hardworking man with an erudite knowledge of the musical context in which he lived, and a plan to outlast his own existence. He sang his way out of prison- twice- and into recording history through his collaboration with musicologist John Lomax, and in this capacity was a deliberate and pioneering chronicler of the Black experience at the turn of the century. For those interested in folk, blues, guitar, or a general introduction to his work, this release is very highly recommended.
By Kevan Corbett, CanEHdian.com 2001
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