Synopsis

Seminal American folk singer Huddie Ledbetter (otherwise known as Lead Belly) had a major influence on popular music on both sides of the Atlantic during the 20th Century. Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Van Morrison, Nirvana and even ABBA have all been influenced by him yet he remains far from a household name. In the week of the 60th anniversary of his death (6 December), Eric Burdon of The Animals examines his life, music and legacy.

From humble beginnings singing work songs as he picked cotton in the fields of Louisiana, to his time as a shining star in the emerging 1930s New York folk scene, Lead Belly had a broad repertoire which included folk, blues and protest songs. Popular songs he performed, long before the big names of today, include Goodnight Irene, House Of The Rising Sun and Where Did You Sleep Last Night?

Part one traces Lead Belly's roots back to the American Deep South of the late 1800s where he was born into a farming family on the borders of Louisiana and Texas. Picking cotton was the main trade of the time and it was while picking cotton that Huddie became acquainted with some of the songs for which he'd eventually become famous.

In this episode, singer Arlo Guthrie (son of Leadbelly's close friend Woody Guthrie) examines how his tough life influenced much of his early musical repertoire. Arlo argues that music played an even bigger part in peoples' daily lives in the late 1800s than it does today, especially within America's impoverished black communities. Lead Belly would pick up songs "like a sponge" as he travelled the Deep South and re-work them.

Lead Belly did have a violent streak and this landed him in jail for a third of his adult life. But far from hampering his love of music, prison and his experiences on the chain gangs would also become another major source of musical inspiration.

Songs discussed in part one include Black Betty, Pick A Bale of Cotton, Cotton Fields (which would later be popularised by The Beach Boys), Midnight Special and CC Rider, which was eventually picked up by presenter Eric Burdon during his time as lead singer in The Animals.

Contributors to part one include Arlo Guthrie (son of Woody Guthrie), Lead Belly's neice Tiny Robinson and legendary record producer Nile Rodgers.

Tracklisting:
Lead Belly - Boll Weevil (from WNYC Radio archive)
Ram Jam - Black Betty
Lead Belly - Black Betty
Nirvana - Where Did You Sleep Last Night?
Lead Belly - Black Girl
Lead Belly - Rock Island Line
The Beach Boys - Cotton Fields (The Cotton Song)
Lead Belly - Whoa Back, Buck
Lead Belly - Chicken Crowing for Midnight (from WNYC Radio archive)
Lead Belly - Didn't Ol' John Cross the Water
Lonnie Donegan - Pick a Bale of Cotton
Lead Belly - Pick a Bale of Cotton (from WNYC Radio archive)
The Beach Boys - Cotton Fields (The Cotton Song)
Lead Belly - Cotton Fields
Lead Belly - Goodnight, Irene
Lead Belly - Cow Cow Yicky Yea / Out On the Western Plains
Lead Belly - If It Wasn't for Dicky
Andy Williams - Kisses Sweeter than Wine
Jean Ritchie - Hangman
Lead Belly - Gallis Pole
Led Zeppelin - Gallows Pole
Lead Belly - Fannin Street
Lead Belly - C. C. Rider
The Animals - C C Rider
Lead Belly - Good Morning Blues
Lead Belly - Red Cross Store Blues
Lead Belly - TB Blues
Lead Belly - Don't You Love Your Daddy No More?
Lead Belly - Ham and Eggs
Lead Belly - Go Down Old Hannah
Lead Belly - Midnight Special
Lead Belly - Blind Lemon (Memorial Record).