Styles: Blues, Folk, Work Song | US
I think everyone should do themselves a favour and find the one really old Blues artist that they can be obsessed with for the rest of their life, mine is Lead Belly.
I'll be honest with you, the reader and admit I had first heard of Lead Belly through Nirvana and their covers of his music. The track Grey Goose off of this release was covered by them (with the Screaming Trees) in a bizarre, instrumental Sludge-Rock way and I was curious as to what the original sounded like. That made me stumble upon the version on this album, I saw the length of the album (only 18 minutes as it was essentially just three double-sided single discs released together) and said I might as well, then was hooked ever since
For those who need some background, Huddie Ledbetter is a folk/blues performer from Louisiana who was born in either 1888 or 1889. He was convicted of murder in 1918 but managed to get pardoned after writing a song to his local governor pleading for his freedom.
His knowledge of local folk songs was like that of an encyclopedia, he had basically heard every obscure folk song of his birthplace of Louisiana and also his new home in Texas, some from his family member's (specifically their work on plantations), some from other local blues/country legends (Woodie Guthrie was counted among his friends) and some even from prison. Which leads us to his second prison stay for attempted murder where he was discovered by John and Alan Lomax, a father and son who were folk music collectors. It was in prison where Lead Belly heard the song that's most important for this article, The Midnight Special.
Lead Belly and the Lomaxes would travel the south collecting songs and doing talks about their work. Negro Sinful Songs and The Midnight Special were both recorded with Alan Lomax's help to varying degrees. The linear notes for both albums are massive and heavily detailed, Negro Sinful Songs had a lot embellishments however.
Lead Belly found himself back inside prison again so in the spirit of mythologising that Alan Lomax had established, they decided to make a "prison album". They gathered the Golden Gate Quartet to simulate chain-gang singers (Lead Belly allegedly had to teach them how to sing "rougher") and performed six prison songs both a cappella and with Leadbetter's 12-string accompaniment.
The Midnight Special is obviously the standout here, it's a beautifully tragic song, recorded and performed perfectly. It's about a man getting chucked in prison after getting arrested at the local train station and the prisoner hearing of his wife dying without his knowledge all the while he wishes to see the lights of the train again. A description doesn't do it justice, you have to hear the harmonies ringing in the 1940s quality microphones and the old sounding guitar to get it. Cliché I know for someone to say the low fidelity sound of a blues track makes it better but it's true. The track has been covered by Creedance and by Paul McCartney but Lead Belly's version towers high above theirs. The way his guitar subtly emulates the chugging of a train is just beautiful to me.
We then have three a cappella numbers back to back which honestly drag at points but are still enjoyable. Ham An' Eggs is my least favourite but the old school harmonies are great. Grey Goose is a sinister sounding song describing a preacher trying and failing to kill a Goose on a Sunday. Stew Ball is about a racehorse that amusingly inspired both this American folk song and an Irish one that Planxty were known to sing as well. It's easily the best of the a capella songs as it's a lot less monotonous than the other two.
We then have Pick a Bale of Cotton and Alabama Bound which are both excellent songs that feature Lead Belly's guitar playing again. Pick a Bale of Cotton is second only to the title track for its harmonies and Alabama Bound is one of the catchiest songs you'll ever hear.
Overall this is a very unique work in Lead belly's catalogue, being some of the few recordings featuring prominent harmonies and backing vocals as well as featuring the conceptual backdrop of it being a prison-themed album. If you wanna really stretch the definition then you could say this along with Woodie Guthrie's Dust Bowl Ballads and the much lesser known Southern Exposure by Josh White are the first ever concept albums. I wouldn't say that though. Those albums and this one are good for what they are, we don't have to recontextualise and try to seem smart for liking them. This is music at its purest, no pretentious elements at play in any way.
„Let the midnight special, shine her light on me
Let the midnight special, shine her ever-lovin' light on me“
9.5/10
See also: Josh White, Woodie Guthrie, Pete Seeger, The Almanac Singers
Listen here: Apple Music
On Spotify and other streaming services you'll find these tracks on Take This Hammer - The Complete RCA Victor Recordings
- YonDivi
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