A Guide to Essential Popular Music-Volume Two: A Guide to Essential Popular Music

Kate and Anna McGarrigle

Kate and Anna McGarrigle are sisters from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, who in 1975 formed a folk duo and went on to write and record some of the best contemporary folk music of the last 30 years. The musical McGarrigle family grew as Kate married folk singer, Loudon Wainwright and bore him musical children, singers Martha and Rufus Wainwright.

The McGarrigles appeared on the music scene in 1976 with the release of their classic debut album, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, a superb collection of songs ranging from folk and blues to gospel, all sung with the McGarrigle sisters’ trademark tight harmonies. The album’s highlights are the songs Mendocino and Heart like a Wheel, with the latter tune becoming a hit for Linda Ronstadt. The song, Go Leave is for Kate’s husband Loudon Wainwright, with whom she had a famously difficult marriage.

The McGarrigle’s follow-up release, Dancer with Bruised Knees (1977), was another fine effort that like the debut album, included several songs sung in French.

The McGarrigles continued to record fine albums until the death of Kate in 2002, and the best of their latter offerings are French Record (1981), Love Over and Over (1982), Heartbeats Accelerating (1990), and Matapedia (1996).

Kate Bush

Art pop singer/songwriter Kate Bush was born in Bexleyheath, England in 1958. She attended an English convent school but left at sixteen to pursue music. Pink Floyd guitarist, David Gilmour, a friend of her family, liked her songs and took an active interest in her music. In the mid-Seventies, Bush recorded several demo tracks with Gilmour, and in 1975, she was signed to EMI Records.

Kate recorded her fine debut album, The Kick Inside, in the summer of 1977. The album was released the following year after the single, Wuthering Heights, became a No.1 hit in the UK while Kate was still only 19-years-old. Bush recorded several more fine art pop albums in the early Eighties including Never for Ever (1980), The Dreaming (1982), and the album that turned her into an international star, Hounds of Love (1985).

After retreating from the music scene to raise her son, Bush returned with the fine album, Aerial in 2005 and since then has also produced the album, 50 Words for Snow (2011).

Kayne West

Kayne West is among the most popular hip hop artists of the century. West was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1977, but settled in Chicago and began his career in music producing hip hop albums for the likes of Jay-Z, Scarface, and others. West’s brand of hip hop borrows heavily from soul and R&B and as such has more pop appeal than the more hardcore hip hoppers.

West’s fine debut album, The College Dropout (2004) was released in 2004 and quickly gained a reputation as one of the finest-ever hip hop releases with standout tracks such as Jesus Walks and All Falls Down.

West made several guest appearances on albums by other hip hop and pop artists in the months following the release of his debut, and he produced another stellar album with his sophomore release, Late Registration (2005). The solid albums Late Orchestration: Live at Abbey Road Studios and Graduation followed in 2006 and 2007, respectively.

After releasing a mediocre album of synth pop music, 808s and Heartbreak, in 2008, West returned to form with another classic hip hop release, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010), a pop rap release that met with almost universal approval.

k. d. Lang

k.d.Lang is a female country/pop singer from Consort, Alberta, Canada, where she was born in 1961. Lang started her career as something of a country-punk singer before refining her style to a more Nashville-based sound. Lang possesses one of the best voices in pop music, and her adoption of the polished Nashville sound gave her the vehicle necessary to showcase that voice.

Lang’s first notable album was Shadowland (1988), an album of covers of country classics which includes a medley of songs with Lang and the Honky Tonk Angels, Kitty Wells, Loretta Lynn, and Brenda Lee. Lang would follow up Shadowland with an album of her original material, Absolute Torch and Twang (1989). The album offers up beautiful country ballads such as Trail of Broken Hearts with uptempo songs such as Didn’t I and Big Boned Gal.

Lang would crossover over into more overt pop terrain with her next effort, Ingénue (1992), only leaving traces of the country music she had started out with. Ingénue was a fine collection of torch songs with the highlights being Save Me, Constant Craving, and Miss Chatelaine.

Lang continues to record and has made some excellent albums such as Live by Request (2001) and a collection of songs by Canadian songwriters, Hymns of the 49th Parallel (2004) featuring new versions of songs by Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Bruce Cockburn.

Keb Mo 

Keb Mo has been described as a modern day bluesman who is a direct bridge to the original Mississippi Delta blues. Keb Mo was born Kevin Moore in Los Angeles, California, in 1951. Keb Mo has been described as a postmodern bluesman with a style that incorporates jazz, folk, rock and pop influences.

After recording with former Jefferson Airplane violinist Papa John Creach in the early Seventies, Keb Mo recorded a debut album, Rainmaker under his birth name, Kevin Moore, and didn’t make another solo recording for 14 years.

In 1994, Mo recorded his fine album, Keb Mo. This album proved to be his second debut release and the album featured two Robert Johnson covers, Come on in My Kitchen and Kindhearted Woman Blues. Johnson has been an enormous influence on Keb Mo’s music.

Keb Mo has continued to record since the Nineties, bringing the country blues to wider audiences on Just Like You (1996), Slow Down (1998), The Door (2000), and Suitcase (2006).

Keef Hartley Band

The Keef Hartley Band was one of the finest blues-rock bands of the Sixties. The band was formed by former John Mayall Bluesbreakers drummer Hartley and keyboardist Peter Dines, singer/guitarist Miller Anderson, and bassist Gary Thain. Keef Hartley had replaced Ringo Starr as drummer in Rory Storm and the Hurricanes when Starr left that band to join the Beatles, in 1963.

Shortly after forming, the band recorded their brilliant debut album, Halfbreed (1969), in just three days. The album is one of the best examples of heavy British blues rock with stellar musicianship all round. Track highlights from the album are Born to Die and Leaving Trunk which showcase Miller Anderson’s vocal and guitar chops.

The Keef Hartley Band would several more fine albums in the coming years on The Battle of North West Six (1969), The Time is Near (1970), Overdog (1971), and Little Big Band (1971).

Keith Hudson

Keith Hudson was a dub/roots reggae performer who produced music that was a vital and important as his more famous reggae brethren, but did not garner the same level of recognition as the likes of Toots, Marley and Tosh. This is largely due to the fact that Hudson’s recordings were not suited to singles, and unlike Bob Marley, Hudson recorded his music without commercial considerations. Hudson was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1946.

Hudson recorded his debut album, Class and Subject, in 1972. Hudson’s third release, Pick a Dub (1974) was a classic of psychedelic-sounding reggae with classic tracks in Blood Brother, Black Heart, and Black Right.

Hudson recorded several more fine albums during the Seventies including, Entering the Dragon (1975), Flesh of My Skin: Blood of My Blood (1975), Brand (1977), Rasta Communication (1978), and Nuh Skin Up Dub (1979).

In 1981, Hudson produced a masterpiece of roots reggae with a completely unique sounding album, Playing it Cool, and Playing it Right. The album was funky and psychedelic and featured utterly memorable tracks throughout.

Hudson died suddenly in 1984 while being treated for cancer.

Kid Ory

Kid Ory, born in La Place, Louisiana, in 1886, was the king of the trombone in the early years of jazz music in New Orleans. He started out played banjo, but later switched to trombone. Ory would become known for his tailgate style that had the trombone producing rhythmic lines underneath the clarinets and cornets. From 1912 to 1919, he led an extremely popular band in New Orleans which had as members, King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Johnny Dodds, Sidney Bechet and Jimmie Noone.

Ory moved to California in 1919, and in 1922, King Ory’s Creole Orchestra became the first African-American jazz band to make a recording when they recorded the songs Ory’s Creole Trombone and Society Blues. In 1925, Ory moved to Chicago, joining the migration of New Orleans jazz musicians who were seeking fame and fortune in the Windy City. In Chicago, Ory played with King Oliver’s Creole Jazz band, Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five and Hot Seven and later with Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers.

During the Depression, Ory found himself out of work along with many of his colleagues. For several years he ran a chicken ranch with his brother and returned to music when the New Orleans style jazz revival happened in the Forties. He reformed the Kid Ory’s Creole Jazz Band in 1943, and Ory was able to play jazz until he retired in 1966, and he died at a ripe old age in 1973.

The compilation albums, Ory’s Creole Trombone: Greatest Recordings 1922-1944 (1995) and The Chronological Classics: Kid Ory 1922-1945 (1999) are among the best available compilations of his music.

King Crimson

One of the pioneering bands of progressive-rock, King Crimson came together in 1968, with guitarist Robert Fripp, drummer Michael Giles, saxophone/flute player, Ian McDonald, lyricist Peter Sinfield and bassist Greg Lake. The band chose the name, King Crimson, and headed to the studio in 1969, where they recorded one of the greatest albums in rock history, In the Court of the Crimson King. The album was an artistic set of songs ranging from the hard rock of 21st Century Schizoid Man to the beautiful and dreamy ballad, I Talk to the Wind. The album is superbly written, arranged, and produced and contains unforgettable songs.

Peter Giles replaced Lake on bass and Ian McDonald departed, and with their new lineup King Crimson recorded In the Wake of Poseidon (1970) which was a lesser version of the previous record. The jazzy, Lizard (1970) and Islands (1971) would follow, but none of these albums came anywhere close to matching the brilliance of the debut.

Robert Fripp put together a new lineup featuring bassist/vocalist John Wetton, drummer Bill Bruford, violinist David Cross, percussionist Jamie Muir and lyricist Richard Palmer-James. This lineup was a harder rocking unit and recorded Larks Tongues in Aspic (1971) and Starless and Black Bible (1973), the best records the band had made since their brilliant debut.

Fripp brought back Ian McDonald for Red (1974), one of the band’s most-acclaimed releases. Despite almost constant lineup changes, King Crimson has forged ahead with guitarist Robert Fripp as the constant thread holding them together.

The best releases of this band’s most recent work included the following: USA (1975), Discipline (1981), The Great Deceiver: Live 1973-1974 (1992), Thrak (1996), The Night Watch (1997), and Absent Lovers: Live in Montreal 1984 (1998)

King Oliver

Joe King Oliver is among the seminal figures in the history of jazz music. Oliver was an influential musician in the early days of jazz whose hot cornet playing influenced all those who followed in his footsteps including Louis Amstrong, Oliver’s student, charge and employee. It was Oliver who convinced Armstrong to leave New Orleans for Chicago, and play second cornet in Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band took the first steps on a journey that would see Armstrong revolutionize jazz and American popular music.

Oliver was born in New Orleans in 1885 and was blinded in one eye as a child. He often played cornet while wearing a derby hat in such a way as to obscure his bad eye. Oliver was one of the first cornetists to use a mute to alter the sound of his cornet. Using a mute, he was able to produce a wide variety of sounds including the whinnying of a horse.

Oliver started his professional career in New Orleans around 1908. He was a member of several marching bands, and he worked at various times in Kid Ory’s band. Ory began referring to him as King Oliver around 1917.

In 1919, Oliver moved to Chicago with Kid Ory and played in Bill Johnson’s band at the Dreamland Ballroom. Oliver formed King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band in 1922, and landed a residency at Chicago’s Lincoln Gardens. His new band featured some of the best jazz musicians of the time including clarinetist Johnny Dodds, trombonist Honore Dutrey, pianist Lil Hardin, drummer Baby Dodds, and Louis Armstrong on second cornet.

King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band 1923 recording sessions for the Gennet label produced some of the best-ever recordings of jazz with Chimes Blues, Just Gone, Dippermouth Blues, and Snake Rag. These recordings revealed the brilliant dual cornet playing of Armstrong and Oliver, and introduced Armstrong’s virtuosity to the world. Armstrong soon headed to New York City to join Fletcher Henderson Orchestra and the Creole Jazz Band would cease to be in 1924.

Oliver took over Dave Peyton’s band in 1925, renamed it the Dixie Syncopators,and moved the band to New York in 1927. Once in New York, Oliver passed up a chance to have the Dixie Syncopators become the house band at the Cotton Club. Duke Ellington took the job and went on to fame and riches. In 1929, Luis Russell took over the Dixie Syncopaters and changed their name to Luis Russell and his Orchestra.

Oliver recorded until 1931, but his New Orleans hot jazz style was falling out of fashion. Oliver finally settled down in Georgia, where he worked as a poolroom janitor until his death in 1938.

Oliver’s classic sides are available on the following compilations: King Oliver’s Jazz Band 1923 (1975), King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band: The Complete Set (1997), and the series, The Chronological Classics: King Oliver (1991).

King Tubby

King Tubby is among the most important figures of the early days of reggae music. Tubby was not a performer or even a composer, he was a sound engineer whose groundbreaking work in the studio led to the development of dub music. King Tubby was born Osborne Ruddock in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1944.

As a radio repairman in the Fifties, Tubby found himself in constant demand by the operators of sound systems in Kingston that provided music and DJ services for public gatherings. As Jamaica is located in the humid tropics, sound systems routinely required Tubby’s services. Tubby eventually opened his own sound system, Tubby’s Hometown Hi-Fi, in 1958. Tubby’s sound system soon became one of the most popular due to its high quality of his equipment and his use of echo and reverb.

By the late Sixties Tubby had become a disc cutter for Treasure Isle Studios, producers of ska, rocksteady, and eventually, reggae recordings. He eventually became the premier sound engineer in Jamaica, and his work even became known abroad. Tubby’s extensive knowledge of electronics allowed him to modify recording equipment and enhance recordings artificially. His experiments with dubbing vocals and instruments would become known as dub music.

The best of King Tubby’s dub music can be found on the following albums: Dub From the Roots (1974), The Roots of Dub (1975), Herb Dub-Collie Dub (1976), Surrounded by the Dreads at The National Arena (1976), Dangerous Dub (1981) King of the Control (1981), and First Prophet of Dub" (1983).

Kinks (The)

The Kinks were one of the best and most popular British rock bands of the Sixties and early Seventies. The band was part of the British Invasion that started with the Beatles’ success in America in the early Sixties. Dave Davies famous guitar riff from the song, You Really Got Me, has been cited as a turning point in rock that inspired hard rock/ heavy metal.

Ray Davies, the creative force behind The Kinks, wrote the most literate and narrative songs in rock music, and infused his songwriting with a particularly nostalgic and British bent as albums such as The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society amply demonstrate.

The Kinks formed in 1963, in London. The band has changed personnel several times, but singer Ray Davies, his younger brother, lead guitarist Dave Davies and drummer Mick Avory have always been the heart of the band. Peter Quaife, the original bassist for the band, died of kidney failure in 2010.

The Kinks recorded a number of excellent albums during their earliest incarnation including the aforementioned, The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968) which is usually cited as the band’s masterpiece. Face to Face (1966), Something Else by the Kinks (1967), Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire (1969), and Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround (Part One) (1970), were also stellar works which featured some of the most satirical and acute commentary on modern, especially British, society.

In addition to You Really Got Me, The Kinks enjoyed several hit singles in their early days such as A Well Respected Man, Victoria, Waterloo Sunset, All Day and All of the Night, Tired of Waiting for You, and Sunny Afternoon.

Ray Davies has spent the last several years touring as a solo act, but another Kinks reunion is always possible in the future.

Kraftwerk

Kraftwerk, formed as Organisation, in 1969, is a progressive electronic band from Dusseldorf, Germany, that was heavily influenced by modern classical music. The band experimented with electronic instruments and changed their name to Kraftwerk in 1970. After several roster changes in the early Seventies, the lineup was finally set as a quartet consisting of Ralph Hutter, Florien Schneider, Wolfgang Flur and Karl Bartos. The name, Kraftwerk, means power plant, in German.

Before the release of Autobahn (1974), electronic music was viewed as a purely experimental pursuit. Released in 1974, the critically-acclaimed album became an international hit and did much to expand the boundaries of what was considered popular music.

Their follow-up album, Trans-Europa Express (1977), also garnered terrific reviews, and is now considered by many as the band’s crowning achievement. Die Mensch-Maschine (Man Machine) would follow in 1978, and it received similar rave reviews. Another fine effort, Computerwelt (Computer World) would appear in 1981.

Since Computer World, the band has recorded sporadically. Their last major work, Minimum-Maximum appeared in 2005.

Kris Kristofferson

Kristofferson has proved to be one of the most versatile individuals in the entertainment business for the last 40 years. Kristofferson is perhaps better known for his acting than his music, having appeared in numerous movies over the last 40 years including the role of the legendary American West outlaw, Billy the Kid in the 1973 film, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.

As for his music career, Kristofferson was a highly respected songwriter who wrote songs for others before he embarked on his own solo career as a singer/songwriter/outlaw country performer. Kristofferson wrote the classic songs, Help Me Make it Through the Night, Me and Bobby McGee, and Sunday Morning Coming Down. The last two songs were covered by Janis Joplin and Johnny Cash, respectively.

Kristofferson was born in Brownsville, Texas, in 1936, and moved around the country in his youth because his father, Lars Kristofferson, was a US Air Force Major General, whose work demanded that he travel. The family eventually settled in San Mateo, California, where Kristofferson graduated high school and eventually attended Pomona College where he was a star athlete, competing in collegiate football and track and field.

He later graduated with a B.A. in literature with highest honours, and received a prestigious Rhodes scholarship to Oxford University. At Oxford, he began writing songs with the purpose of honing his writing skills for his ultimate goal of becoming a novelist. Following his graduation from Oxford, he joined the US Army and rose to the rank of captain.

Kristofferson left the army in 1965 much to the chagrin of his family, and headed to Nashville, Tennessee, where he struggled to make a career for himself in music. He was working as a janitor in the Columbia Records studios where Bob Dylan was recording his masterpiece, Highway 61 Revisited. Kristofferson witnessed the sessions, but he never approached Dylan for fear of losing his job. In 1967, Kristofferson managed to get a recording deal with Epic Records and recorded the unsuccessful single, Golden Idol/Killing Time.

Over the next few years, Kristofferson’s songs were becoming heard through versions by established singers. His success as a songwriter landed him a recording contract with Monument Records and his debut album, Kristofferson was released in 1970. The album garnered significant critical acclaim, but sold poorly. That album, plus his 1971 follow-up, The Silver Tongued Devil and I and Jesus was a Capricorn (1973) are generally considered his best efforts. The compilation album, The Very Best of Kris Kristofferson" (1999) is also worth seeking out.

Labelle

Labelle was one of the finest female funk outfits of the Seventies. In addition to funk, this band, consisting of singers Patti La Belle, Nona Hendryx, and Sarah Dash, performed soul music and ultimately turned to disco. The group hailed from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where they came together, in 1959.

The group started out as a doo wop act called The Bluebelles in the Sixties, and they scored hits with the songs, Over the Rainbow and You’ll Never Walk Alone. In the early Seventies, the group reinvented itself, and turned to funk and soul. The group recorded their debut album, Labelle in 1971. Another album, Moon Shadow, appeared in 1972.

The group’s third album, Pressure Cookin’ (1973), would prove to be a classic work as it continued standout tracks such as the medley of Something in the Air and The Revolution Will Not be Televised. The group’s best known work, and another classic, Nightbirds, followed in 1974. This album was a full-on funk masterpiece with the hit song, Lady Marmalade, as its centerpiece.

Labelle recorded two fine funk albums, Pheonix (1975) and Chameleon (1976), in the mid-Seventies, before turning to disco.

Larry Williams

Larry Williams is one of the almost forgotten fathers of rock and roll. Williams, a pianist, had a number of huge hits during the mid-Fifties as rock and roll was beginning to dominate American popular music. Several of Williams’ songs would be recorded by more famous bands and singers, and become forever associated with them. The Beatles recorded Williams’ songs, Slow Down, Bad Boy, and Dizzy Miss Lizzy during the earliest phase of their recording career.

Williams was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1935. He made his recording debut in 1957 for Specialty Records with a ballad, Just Because. Williams’ forte, however, was up-tempo rockers, and he scored a hit later the same year with the rocker, Bonie Maronie. A slew of hits would soon follow including, Dizzy Miss Lizzy, Bad Boy, and Short Fat Fanny."

Williams didn’t enjoy much success after 1957, and he fell back into the underworld life of drug-peddling that consumed much of his time prior to his music career. In the mid-Sixties, he made a comeback with an R&B band which included guitarist Johnny Guitar Watson, and he produced a couple of albums for his friend, Little Richard.

This success would not last as his drug addiction kept dragging him down. In 1977, he pulled a gun on Little Richard and threatened to kill him over a drug debt. Shortly thereafter, Williams was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head, in his Los Angeles home. His death was officially deemed a suicide. He was 44-years-old at the time of his demise.

Williams’ best recordings are found on the albums, Here’s Larry Williams (1959), The Larry Williams Show (ft. Johnny Guitar Watson) (1965), and The Best of Larry Williams (1988).

Last Poets (The)

The Last Poets was an African-American poetry group, which through its recordings of poetry accompanied by percussion, was the original forerunner of rap and hip hop music. The group was formed in New York City, in 1968, on the birthday of radical civil rights leader, Malcolm X. The Last Poets ostensible task was to fight for African-American civil rights.

The group’s work could be said to constitute proto-hip-hop with tasteful use of the polyrhythms that are trademarks of African and African-influenced music. The clever wordplay and social commentary of their works can be seen reflected in the works of modern hip hop artists.

The group’s first release, The Last Poets appeared in 1970, followed by Right On (1971), This is Madness (1971), and Chastisement (1972).

Laura Nyro

Nyro was born in New York City, in 1947, to a piano-tuner father and bookkeeper mother. She sold her first song And When I Die, which would later become a hit for Blood, Sweat and Tears, in 1965. When she was just eighteen she landed a recording contract with Verve after her father tuned a piano at the company’s offices. She recorded her impressive debut album, More than just a New Discovery, in 1967, when she was just nineteen.

In 1967, David Geffen became Nyro’s manager and landed her a contract with Columbia Records. Nyro would record four successive classic albums from 1968 to 1971.The superb Eli and the Thirteenth Confession appeared in 1968, and it contained the original version of her song, Eli’s Coming, which would later become a hit for the band, Three Dog Night. Up next was New York Tendaberry (1969), a dark meditation on love and deception. Christmas and the Beads of Sweat was released in

1970, followed by Gonna Take a Miracle (1971).

Nyro retired in 1971, and move to Danbury, Connecticut, with her husband. She returned to music in 1976 and recorded albums sporadically She was diagnosed with cancer in 1995, and died in Danbury, in 1997, aged 49.

Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Hill is one of the premier performers of a new generation of soul singers whose music is often labeled neo-soul. Hill was born in South Orange, New Jersey, in 1975, and recorded one of the finest debut albums of the Nineties with The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998). The album was an inspired mix of soul and hip hop that heralded Hill as the newest diva of African-American pop.

Despite the fact that she had recorded such a terrific debut, Hill retreated from the music industry and has stayed at home with her husband Rohan Marley (son of Bob Marley) to raise a family.

Hill’s only other release since her debut album has been the 2002 album, MTV Unplugged 2.0, a curious and often histrionic collection of contemporary folk and hip hop tracks and preachy commentary.

La Vern Baker

One of a number of key artists that helped R&B cross over into rock and roll and pop, La Vern Baker had a powerful and versatile voice which could be employed in a variety of settings. Baker was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1929, and made her recording debut for Atlantic Records with the single, Soul on Fire, in 1953.

For the remainder of the Fifties and Sixties, Baker recorded a number of memorable singles including, Tweedle Dee, Jim Dandy, and I Cried a Tear.

Baker’s hits can be found on a number of fine compilations including, Soul on Fire: The Best of La Vern Baker (1991) and the epic Atlantic Records collection, Atlantic Rhythm and Blues: 1947-74 (1991).

Leadbelly

Leadbelly is a legendary figure in both the fields of folk music and the blues. Leadbelly’s life is the stuff of American popular legend. He was a hard man who was convicted of murder and spent much of his early adult life in prison. While in prison, he worked in chain gangs doing hard labor.

Leadbelly is remembered for his twelve-string guitar virtuosity and his catalogue of songs, both blues and folk that he either wrote or collected on his travels in the early days of the 20th century. Among Leadbelly’s most famous songs are: Good Night Irene, Black Betty, Midnight Special, On a Monday, Pick a Bale of Cotton, Green Corn, and Stewball.

Leadbelly was born Huddie Ledbetter in Mooringsport, Louisiana, in 1885. By the time he was five-years-old, his family had settled in Bowie County, Texas. Leadbelly learned the guitar in childhood, and by 1903, he was performing in Shreveport, Louisiana, clubs and steadily honing his craft. The wide range of music which Leadbelly heard in Shreveport had an indelible influence on his music. In 1912, following the sinking of the Titanic, Leadbelly wrote a song about the ship noting that African-American boxer, Jack Johnson, was denied the right to sail on the ship and was able to