Let us pay homage where it is due; Lead Belly, this is for you...

[abqtommy]

When I was a lad and turned 14 in 1963 I manged to persuade my Mom to buy me a guitar for my birthday. I'd been visiting a school friend and found out he had a baritone ukulele and instruction book so I spent a lot of time visiting him an learning to play.

I was born into a musical family. Mom and her sisters all played the piano and sang. My favorite aunt
played the guitar and welcomed me into her home so I could play it.

In 1954 my Mom wrote in a newsletter she sent from West Pakistan that I had found an old broken-down guitar that I treasured so it was perfectly logical that I should finally get a working guitar of my own.

As time went by I accumulated chord books, sore fingers and what books of folk songs I could. I found
that many folk songs were written by a man called Lead Belly and I wondered about that but I knew I
liked his songs.

Now as an old guy I've found out about Lead Belly and I recommend his story and his songs to you.

Leadbelly the movie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadbelly_(film)

Lead Belly biography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_Belly

Lead Belly performs his song Midnight Special, a favorite that I also used to perform...

[Karadeniz]

1. Sounds like you've had an interesting life!❤

[DFW]

2. On of the few of the old bluesmen to play the 12 string guitar

Not the same style I play (I'm a Leo Kottke fan), but one of pioneers making the 12 string less of a stranger than it used to be.

[Brother Buzz]

3. A 12 string Stella, Baby

Note: Leo Kottke has a Stella in his collection.

[DFW]

4. I definitely do NOT have one of those!

However, I DID recently buy one of Leo's collection--one of only 3 "owl" guitars that Božo made:

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[panader0]

13. Wow, that's very cool.

[abqtommy]

6. My first guitar was a 6-string/12-fret Stella. Cost 15 bucks new in 1963.

[DFW]

15. Wow! Do you still have it? n/t

[abqtommy]

17. No, but I have memories and guitars worth a lot of money!

[Brother Buzz]

18. A sixties Stella is worth what someone is willing to pay

There's a strong interest in Stellas from that era because they are cheap compared to Martins and Gibsons, plus the solid birch top produced a cool tone a lot of people are chasing after.

Where did it come from? Catalog, department store, local music store?

[abqtommy]

19. It was a good first instrument. Not very good quality and I traded it away. My Mom and I bought

it new at a local pawn shop. I've owned many guitars since and still have some of them...

[The Magistrate]

5. One Of The Very Greatest, Sir

Nice to hear this.

[denbot]

7. Love Lead Belly

I’ve always thought of him as a bluesman.

[abqtommy]

8. I don't think you're wrong...

[Brother Buzz]

9. He played the blues, and a WHOLE lot more

His first commercial recordings were made for the American Record Corporation, which did not take advantage of his huge folk repertoire but rather encouraged him to sing blues; his earlier recordings with Lomax were mostly folk songs.


Lead Belly knew close to six hundred songs, often with different titles and lyrics than what the music scholars understood them to be. Blues, Folk, Traditional, Standards, Work Songs; he was a walking encyclopedia of oral music.

[denbot]

10. Are there recordings of him playing work songs?

That is something I would like to hear.

[abqtommy]

12. Check youtube. The song I posted is identified as being from The Smithsonian Folkways

Collection so there's gotta be a lot more...

[Brother Buzz]

16. Taj Mahal covered Linin' Track in the sixties

I can't find any field hollers, call and response, or arhoolies, but it's a safe bet he knew them.

Totally off topic, but arhoolie is such a cool name, and there is a riotous connection between Arhoolie Records, Chris Strachwitz, and Smithsonian Folkways.

https://folkways.si.edu/arhoolie

[kentuck]

11. One of his best!

Thanks!

[panader0]

14. Big Leadbelly fan here.