Songs Of Lead Belly

California – 1945

In rage footage captured in California in 1945 12-string folk-blues guitar legend Huddie Ledbetter performs three songs from his expansive repertoire.

Songs Performed:

“Pick a Bale of Cotton”
“Grey Goose”
“Take This Hammer”

Although he had lived in New York City for much of his career, in 1944 Lead Belly traveled to California to attend sessions for Capitol Records.

Because it was filmed without sound and later synced to audio the sound track is off at times, a small price to pay in light of it’s historical significance.

Spending years of isolation form the outside world Huddie’s works songs and field hollers were among the last performances reprehensive of the per blues ear.

Theses types of songs would evolve into the blues as we know it today.

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