Where Did You Sleep Last Night: Lead Belly Legacy, Vol. 1

by Lead Belly, Huddie Ledbetter

Overview

The bulk of the best performances by Leadbelly -- whose influence on the folk revival of the 1950s and '60s cannot be overstated -- were recorded during the '40s for Folkways Records founder Moses Asch. Inferior copies and re-recordings of these tunes have appeared over the years, but the original masters have sat in the vaults of Folkways. The three-volume Where Did You Sleep Last Night: Lead Belly Legacy collection shows what we've been missing: the compilers dug out the best available versions of Leadbelly's finest songs and carefully transferred them from the original acetate masters. As the liner notes promise, "these recordings can again be heard the way they sounded in the early 1940s, for in the original masters you can still hear the ringing of the guitar and thumping of the bass." This 34-song first volume is a must for anyone interested in the roots of American folk. It opens with "Irene," which (as "Goodnight Irene") became a national hit for the Weavers less than a year after Leadbelly died on welfare; it includes many more of his most-famous tunes, among them "Rock Island Line," "Cotton Fields," and "Good Morning Blues." ~ Jeff Burger

Product Details

Release Date:	02/20/1996
Label:	Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
UPC:	0093074004425
Rank:	52485

Tracks

2. Goodnight Irene
3. Pick a Bale of Cotton
4. Good Morning Blues
5. Grey Goose
6. Where Did You Sleep Last Night?
8. Take This Hammer
9. On a Monday
10. Cotton Fields
12. Bring Me Li'l Water, Silvy
13. Moanin'
14. Laura
15. Duncan and Brady
16. Rock Island Line
17. Big Fat Woman
18. In New Orleans (House of the Rising Sun)
21. Chicken Crowing for Midnight
23. You Can't Lose Me, Cholly
24. Sally Walker
26. Ha Ha This A-Way
27. Yellow Gal
28. Green Corn
29. Let It Shine on Me
30. Meeting at the Building
31. In the Evening (When the Sun Goes Down)
33. Pigmeat
34. Blind Lemon
35. Bottle Up and Go
37. Sukey Jump (Win'jammer)
38. Old Riley
39. 4, 5, and 9
41. No Good Rider
42. Shorty George
43. Duncan and Brady
44. Leaving Blues

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Lead Belly   Primary Artist,Piano,Guitar,Vocals,Accordion,Button Accordion,Guitar (12 String)
Huddie Ledbetter   Primary Artist
Howard Scott   Vocals
Brownie McGhee   Guitar
Willie "The Lion" Smith   Piano
Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee   Harmonica
Josh White   Featured Artist
Pops Foster   Bass,Guitar (Bass)
George Hall   Vocals
The Oleander Quartet   Vocals
Sonny Terry   Harmonica,Featured Artist

Technical Credits

Joe Gastwirt   Analog Transfer,Mastering
Don Raye   Composer
John A. Lomax   Arranger,Composer
Leroy Carr   Composer
Moses Asch   Engineer
Alan Lomax   Composer
Georgia Turner   Composer
Jeff Place   Liner Notes
Mary Monseur   Compilation Producer
Michael Maloney   Compilation Producer
Paul Campbell   Composer
Traditional   Arranger,Composer
Lead Belly   Arranger,Composer,Lyricist