**The Lead Belly postage stamp is a part of the Legends of American Music series. Make sure to check out my hub page dedicated to this long-running and important project of the United States Postal Service.
I have written extensively about the Legends series of American stamps, its importance, and its problems. Without a doubt, it was an ambitious stamp project, including more than seventy individual stamps. Its inclusion of musicians of color and women was a tectonic shift away from the traditional appearance of white men on stamps. However, it is also full of problems, not least of which are the design of many of the stamps. This article about the Lead Belly stamp is a perfect example of the tension in these thoughts. Lead Belly was a monumental figure in American music and deserves the honor of a postage stamp. Let’s explore more.
His Life
Huddie William Ledbetter was born in either 1888 or 1889 near Mooringsport, Louisiana. He was the younger of the two children of Wesley Ledbetter and Sallie Brown. When he was about five years old, the family moved to Bowie County in Texas. As a young boy, his uncle Terrell gave him an accordion and later a guitar. His talent was evident early, and he also became proficient on the piano and mandolin. As a teenager, he was performing in the red light district of Shreveport, Louisiana. Later, he became the “King of the Twelve-String” guitar.
The census of 1910 shows that Huddie was living next to his parents in Texas, with his wife, Aletha. Soon after, they were joined by two children. However, while still in his young twenties, Huddie left home to make a living as a traveling musician. He became known as a hard living, hard drinking, and short-tempered man.
Prison and the Lomaxes
In 1915, Huddie was caught and convicted of carrying a handgun. As a result, he went to prison and served in a chain gang. This was the first in a series of crimes, including for the murder of a relative in a fight over a woman. Incredibly, he was able to garner a pardon after writing a song for Governor Pat Morris Neff in 1925. Huddie would continue to go in and out of prison for a variety of offenses throughout his life. It was probably during one of his early stints in prison where he was given the nickname of Lead Belly, which became his stage name. In 1930, after getting into a fight at a party, he was once again imprisoned, this time in Louisiana. Then, in 1933, Alan and John Lomax came to the prison to record prison songs for the Library of Congress. This was the beginning of his career.
After gaining international success, Lead Belly was on a tour of Europe in 1949 when he fell ill. The diagnosis was ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. He died on December 6th of that year from the illness.
Lead Belly’s Musical Career
Even as a teenager, Lead Belly was a singer and guitar player that drew attention. At the age of fourteen or fifteen, he began to perform in the red light district of Shreveport, Louisiana. It was there that he began to develop his own style and pick up songs in brothels and saloons. Making his living as a gigging musician, he also picked up folk and blues songs from other traveling musicians. He also learned many songs in prison. One of the reasons he was able to keep getting out of prison was that he became popular with the guards and wardens for his playing.
After initially recording Lead Belly in prison in 1933, Alan Lomax came back in July of 1934. They began recording the first of hundreds of songs performed by him. The Lomaxes wrote to the Governor petition for his release and on August 1st he was freed. Alan Lomax took him north, first to Pennsylvania, then to New York.
Finding Success
He began recording for the American Record Corporation, and went on tour with Lomax. When Alan Lomax would appear for a lecture, Lead Belly would perform. The tour took Lead Belly throughout the Northeast and it ended with a performance at Harvard. By the end of this tour, Lomax and Lead Belly had an acrimonious split.
Out on his own, Lead Belly went to New York and began playing in Harlem. Even with a growing national fame, he was unable to ever scrape together a living wage. It was only after another prison stint in 1939, from which John Lomax secured his release, that Lead Belly began to appear on national radio and television. First were regular appearances on Lomax and Nicholas Ray’s CBS radio program Back Where I Come From. From this success, he became a regular in New York’s folk scene, performing with Josh White, Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger. Lead Belly even had his own radio show, Folks Songs of America on WNYC in New York. He recordings became popular in Europe and led him to book the tour in 1949 where he fell ill.
Legacy
Lead Belly has a tremendous legacy as a virtuosic twelve-string guitar player and singer. His songs form the basic repertoire of American folk music. Among his most famous are “Midnight Special,” “Boll Weevil,” “Good Night, Irene,” “Scottsboro Boys,” “Where Did You Sleep Last Night,” and “Cottonfields.” Groups including the Beach Boys, Nirvana, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Led Zeppelin have all covered his music. His influence was so large that he was posthumously made a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. Learn more from the Lead Belly Foundation.
The Stamp
The Lead Belly postage stamp was a part of a group of four stamps featuring folk musicians. The other sings in the series were Josh White, Sonny Terry, and Woody Guthrie. The stamps were issued on June 26, 1998 and were a part of the larger series Legends of American Music. The design for the stamps was by the illustrator Bernard Fuchs.
Readers of this blog will know that I am not a fan of many of the designs. I am honestly ambivalent about the Lead Belly stamp. The image is respectful and not nearly as cartoony as many of the other stamps in the Legends series. The color palette also feels a little muted and “dustier,” befitting the earthiness of folk music. The group of folk musicians all are worthy and constitute the earliest giants from the 1930s and 40s. At some period, far in the future, later folk music legends such as Pete Seeger and Dylan (who is still alive) will also appear on postage stamps.
Here is one of my favorite songs as played by Lead Belly. Enjoy.
