“Lead Belly at 125: A Tribute to an American Songster” celebrates the life and legacy of Huddie William Ledbetter in a collaboration of the Kennedy Center and the Grammy Museum.
Lead Belly was incarcerated in 1933 at Louisiana’s infamous Angola prison, where musicologists John and Alan Lomax recorded his folk songs intertwined with blues, gospel and spirituals for The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
A year later, Lead Belly had finished serving his sentence and was performing in New York on his 12-string guitar, often wearing prison stripes to promote an image.
Hundreds of his folk standards, such as “Goodnight, Irene,” “Ain’t Gonna Study War No More,” “The Scottsboro Boys,” “Jim Crow Blues” and “Git on Board” became so embedded in American culture that many crossed over to become pop hits. His topics included religion, women, prison, racism and politics. The legions of musicians he influenced include Bob Dylan, Kurt Cobain, Van Morrison and Frank Sinatra.
Saturday’s concert, recorded for a later broadcast, brings together top folk and blues artists performing some of his classic songs. Among them are rocker Robert Plant, fiddler Alison Krauss, her brother and bluegrass bassist Viktor Krauss, singer-songwriter Buddy Miller, folk singer Josh White Jr. and singer/composer Valerie June, whose solo turn will be followed by several duets with Shannon McNally.
Artist Valerie June was raised on gospel and soul music in her native Tennessee. Her own songs might have been plucked from Lead Belly’s generation, yet she did not know his music until after learning that he had been an influence on Cobain.
“When we get caught up by young artists, we always try to learn more about them and what inspired them, so this is how we find a path to older artists,” she told The Washington Times. “I’m a self-taught singer and instrumentalist on the guitar, banjo and ukulele, and have been learning new things from Lead Belly.
“At one time, I was in a band and tried to make my voice sound more commercial and accessible to the mainstream, but nobody liked it. Now it sounds more natural.”
Miss June’s singing voice harks back to the past, just as her songs tell stories that deal with common hardships and the daily grind. That winning combination in “Pushin’ Against a Stone,” her latest album, captured a nomination for a Blues Music Award in the best new artist debut category. One poignant song, “Workin’ Woman,” speaks to women everywhere.
“I was inspired by my mother, my grandmother and all women who work hard trying to run a business, keep house and make ends meet,” she said. The video that accompanies the song was shot in an old building in Austria that is also a blues club.
“The nomination of my recording was a dream come true,” Miss June said. “When I heard my music played on all kinds of radio stations, I knew that listeners everywhere would relate to me.”
Few Lead Belly fans are more fervent than Grammy Award winner Dan Zanes, a rocker turned children’s music maven. His enormous catalog of records is stuffed with songs he learned as a child listening to Lead Belly. For the concert, he and singer Ashley Phillips will perform “Boll Weevil” and “Grey Goose,” which he recorded with the Kronos Quartet for “Catch That Train,” one of the many Dan Zanes and Friends albums, as well as a medley of songs Lead Belly wrote for children.
“I was a lonely kid growing up in New Hampshire when I discovered Lead Belly,” Mr. Zanes said. “There was something mysterious about him that set my imagination on fire. I even could picture him in the room with me. He comes from a generation before recording was popular, and he had a repertoire of 500 or more songs, so he’s a portal into another time and place. He was also an incredible player of the 12-string guitar and had a wide, expansive voice.
“Lead Belly’s music is timeless, like peeling a wolverine out of the sleeve of a coat.”
After heading the band Del Fuegos for 10 years, Mr. Zanes realized that rock music no longer felt like social music to him, so when his daughter was born, he began thinking about the Lead Belly music he had heard as a child. It soon became the template of what he does today.
“Kids have crazy energy, and they help keep me young,” he said. “They have a sense of humor, joy and mystery, and they remind me of life’s best possibilities.
“Some of the kids at my shows may be hearing live music for the first time. I remember how that changed my life and hope that happens for them. By making music in a multicultural way, we prove that lots of people from many different places can get together and have a wonderful time.”
His next project is a recording of Lead Belly’s music.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: “Lead Belly at 125: A Tribute to an American Songster”
WHERE: Kennedy Center Concert Hall, 2700 F St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20566
WHEN: Saturday, 8 p.m.
INFO: Tickets $29 to $99 by calling 202/467-4600, 800/444-1324 or visiting Kennedy-Center.org
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