LEADBELLY: Folk Music From a Life of Blues part 1

Huddie Leadbetter lived the life of a bluesman, drinking and singing, fighting and rambling, and yet, his music went beyond that of simple blues. Raised on the blues, gospel, and plantation chants, Leadbetter was responsible for introducing more people to the folk music of African-Americans than any other artist of his era. More importantly, Leadbelly, as he was more commonly known, influenced and inspired a whole generation of artists and spurred the revival of folk and blues music.

Huddie William Leadbetter was born in January, 1889, on a plantation in Mooringsport, Louisiana. On the plantation, Huddie was exposed to a number of musical influences. These ranged from the gospel music and spirituals of the church to the field-chants of the people that worked on the plantation to the tutelage of his father who was a musician. The music ranged from the tunes of the day to songs and chants that dated back to the earliest days of slavery. Drawing from these various elements, Huddie would later develop a musical style that was rich in tradition and yet truly original.

Early on in his childhood, Huddie showed promise as a musician. As a toddler, he learned to play the concertina or Cajun accordion, under his father's watchful eye. Growing up, he would later learn to play the harmonica, Jew's harp, piano, mandolin and six-string guitar. It wasn't until later on that he would pick-up his trademark twelve-string guitar.

After his family moved to Texas, when he was around five years old, Huddie's life changed greatly. It was in Texas that three key influences shaped both his music and his life. These influences were the sound of the twelve-string guitar, blues music and the blues life-style.

Longing to play his music, Huddie left home as a teenager and traveled throughout the state. Along the way, he performed and picked up new material, new influences and new habits which were mostly bad. Over the course of his travels, Leadbetter first heard the sound of the twelve-string guitar from the numerous Mexican musicians that played in the cantinas and saloons throughout the state. With a much broader and richer sound than that of his six-string, the instrument captured the ear and heart of the man. From then on, the twelve-string became his instrument of choice.