Lead Belly

Huddie William Ledbetter (/ˈhjuːdi/ HYOO-dee; January 1888 or 1889 – December 6, 1949), better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folk and blues singer notable for his strong vocals, virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the folk standards he introduced, including his renditions of "In the Pines" (also known as "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?"), "Pick a Bale of Cotton", "Goodnight, Irene", "Midnight Special", "Cotton Fields", and "Boll Weevil".

Ledbetter usually played a twelve-string guitar, but he also played the piano, mandolin, harmonica, violin, and windjammer (accordion). In some recordings he also used clapping or stomping to accompany his singing.

Ledbetter's songs covered a wide range of genres, including gospel music, blues, and folk music, as well as a number of topics, including women, liquor, prison life, racism, cowboys, work, sailors, cattle herding, and dancing. He also wrote songs about people in the news, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler, Jean Harlow, Jack Johnson, the Scottsboro Boys and Howard Hughes. Ledbetter was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2008.

Though many releases credit him as "Leadbelly", he wrote his stage name as "Lead Belly". This is the spelling on his tombstone and is used by the Lead Belly Foundation. He did not care for the "Lead Belly" stage name and always introduced himself by his given name, Huddie Ledbetter.

The only son of Sallie Brown and Wesley Ledbetter (she had an older son, and the couple adopted a daughter when Huddie was a toddler), Huddie Ledbetter was born on a plantation near Mooringsport, Louisiana. On his World War II draft registration card in 1942, he gave his birthplace as "Freeport" (Shreveport), Louisiana. There is uncertainty over his precise date and year of birth. The Lead Belly Foundation gives his birth date as January 20, 1889, his grave marker gives the year 1889, and his 1942 draft registration card states January 23, 1889.

The 1900 United States census lists "Hudy Ledbetter" as 12 years old, born January 1888, and the 1910 and 1930 censuses also give his age as corresponding to a birth in 1888. The 1940 census lists his age as 51, with information supplied by wife Martha. These records were made by census takers, and ages and dates were defined in terms of the census date. The books Blues: A Regional Experience by Eagle and LeBlanc and Encyclopedia of Louisiana Musicians by Tomko give January 23, 1888, while the Encyclopedia of the Blues gives January 20, 1888.

His parents had cohabited for several years. They married on February 26, 1888, perhaps after his birth that year. When Huddie was five years old, the family settled in Bowie County, Texas, where they eventually became landowners.

By the 1910 census of Harrison County, Texas, "Hudy Ledbetter" was living next door to his parents in a separate household with his first wife, Aletha "Lethe" Henderson. Aletha is recorded as age 19 and married one year. Others say she was 15 when they married in 1908. Ledbetter received his first instrument in Texas, an accordion, from his uncle Terrell. Ledbetter and his wife had at least two children when they left for the Dallas/Fort Worth area, working as farm laborers while Ledbetter, in his early twenties, sought opportunities as a musician.