Lead Belly: The Man Who Invented Rock ‘n Roll is an authorized documentary film from 2021 by Curt Hahn that presents the extraordinary true story of Huddie William “Lead Belly” Ledbetter, the Godfather of Rock ’n Roll and convicted murderer, who sang his way out of prison not once, but twice! This same documentary film under the new title Lead Belly: Life, Legend, Legacy gets an IMDB rating of 8.1/10.
Many details to Lead Belly’s fascinating life story were expertly chronicled by Director of the Lead Belly Foundation and archivist Alvin Singh II (Lead Belly’s great-nephew) in a conversation with Anna Canoni (Woody Guthrie’s granddaughter). It took place at the Q&A following the film’s New York City premiere on September 15 at the City Winery as part of the annual 2024 Village Trip festival.
His Early Years on the Louisiana Plantation
Lead Belly, a son of cotton pickers, was born on Jeter Plantation in Mooringsport, Louisiana in 1889. As a folk guitarist/ singer he became an early pioneer of rock ’n roll who had a profound and wide reaching influence on the many rock ’n roll icons we know today.
He was a self-taught musician and learned to play guitar at a young age. Early on, he played the accordion and dabbled with other instruments, but he would soon take to the 12-string guitar as his favorite instrument.
For a time, he worked as itinerant musician for Blind Lemon Jefferson.
Arguably Rock ‘n Roll Music and Culture’s Greatest Influence
It was famously stated by George Harrison that “No Lead Belly, no Beatles!” Van Morrison claimed that the 1960s British popular music scene would never have happened without Lead Belly.
Although not one of Lead Belly’s songs is credited as the first song of rock ’n roll (that title often goes to Ike Turner’s Rocket 88 in 1950), his earlier influence toward the birth of rock ’n roll is far reaching and indisputable.
Lead Belly’s original compositions between his time in prison in the early 1930s until his death in 1949 have influenced folk and rock artists in every era from Woody Guthrie, Peter Seeger, Harry Belafonte, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Nirvana and Pearl Jam, up to contemporary artists in the 21st Century.
Released from Two Life Prison Sentences
Lead Belly became a legend not only for his astounding contributions through his folk and blues music, but by living a notoriously violent life. In 1918, he was imprisoned in Texas for murdering a man in a saloon who was attempting to make a pass at his date. Legend has it, he would win his early release in 1925 by singing a song for the governor of Texas when he visited the prison. What is even more amazing is that this early release from a life prison sentence happened more than once.
Lead Belly’s earlier years were plagued by a wandering life. After resuming a life of drifting after being released from prison the first time, Lead Belly once again got in deep trouble. In 1930, he was convicted of attempted murder and imprisoned in the Angola, Louisiana prison farm. During this second prison sentence, he was discovered by the folklorists John Lomax and his son Alan Lomax, who as ethnomusicologists toured the prisons of the American Deep South. Both were collecting songs for the Library of Congress.
Little did Lead Belly know that his life was about to take a radical turn. In 1934, the Lomaxes spearheaded a campaign that secured Lead Belly’s release from a life prison sentence – for a second time!
John Lomax would bring Lead Belly to New York, where within a short span he would embark on concert tours of colleges. This led to extensive performances and recordings that would make him famous, including 48 songs together with commentary called Negro Folk Songs as Sung by Lead Belly in 1936.
During their brief union of six months, Lead Belly acted as a servant to Lomax. However, Lead Belly would later resent this, and attempted to assault Lomax. This ended the relationship.
Lomax also was responsible for introducing other folk and blues artists to American audiences such as Woody Guthrie, Muddy Waters, and Burl Ives. Ironically, Lead Belly later would meet Woodie Guthrie in NYC in 1940, and they would soon become roommates and life-long friends.
His Extraordinary Legacy
One of Lead Belly’s famous songs, The Midnight Special, depicting a man hiding on a train, was written while serving prison time. If the “sun shine a light on you” while on the train it meant you would be soon getting out of jail. Many years later, in the 1970s, Lead Belly’s song would become popular as the musical variety show’s Midnight Special theme song.
Lead Belly wrote the folk standards Goodnight Irene (his personal favorite) and Cotton Fields among a repertory of over 500 songs. No doubt, Lead Belly’s recordings reveal his prodigious memory, and his total mastery of a wide variety of song styles. Within six months of his death in 1949, Goodnight Irene became a million-record hit for The Weavers. Other pieces of his repertoire would become standards, such as The Midnight Special and Rock Island Line. Lead Belly was inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.
Lead Belly died due to ALS. He was penniless but he left an extraordinary legacy.
FILM REVIEW II – Lead Belly: The Man Who Invented Rock and Roll