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."
Vol. 1 - Where Did You Sleep Last Night (1996)
1. Irene
Harmonica – Sonny Terry
Words By, Music By – Lomax, Ledbetter, Lomax
2. Pick A Bale Of Cotton
Vocals – Oleander Quartet, The
3. Good Morning Blues
Harmonica – Sonny Terry
4. Grey Goose
5. In The Pines
Written-By – Trad.
6. Take This Hammer
7. On A Monday
Harmonica – Sonny Terry
8. Cotton Fields
Written-By – Huddie Ledbetter
9. Bring A Little Water Sylvie
Written-By – Huddie Ledbetter
10. Moanin'
Written-By – Huddie Ledbetter
11. Laura
Accordion [Button] – Lead Belly
12. Duncan And Brady
Written-By – Trad.
13. Rock Island Line
14. Big Fat Woman
Piano – Lead Belly
15. New Orleans (The Rising Sun Blues)
16. Chicken Crowing For Midnight
17. You Can't Lose Me Cholly
Written-By – Huddie Ledbetter
18. Sally Walker
19. Ha Ha This A Way
20. Yellow Gal
21. Green Corn
22. Let It Shine On Me
Written-By – Trad.
23. Meeting At The Building
Written-By – Huddie Ledbetter
24. In The Evening When The Sun Goes Down
Written-By – Don Raye, Leroy Carr
25. Pigmeat
Bass Guitar – Unknown Artist
Guitar – Brownie McGhee
26. Blind Lemon
Written-By – Huddie Ledbetter
27. Bottle Up And Go
28. Sukey Jump
Accordion [Button] – Lead Belly
29. Old Riley
30. 4, 5, And 9
Bass – Pops Foster
Guitar – Brownie McGhee
Harmonica – Sonny Terry
Piano – Willie "The Lion" Smith
Written-By – Huddie Ledbetter
31. No Good Rider
32. Shorty George
33. Duncan And Brady (Acapella)
Written-By – Trad.
34. Leaving Blues
Written-By – Huddie Ledbetter
Guitar – Lead Belly (tracks: 1 to 9, 12, 13, 15 to 27, 29 to 32, 34)
Vocals – Lead Belly
Arranged By – Huddie Ledbetter (tracks: 2 to 6, 11 to 14, 16, 18 to 21, 25, 27 to 29, 32, 33)
Recorded by Moses Asch, 1941-46, New York City
Vol. 2 in a three-volume series of the recordings Leadbelly made for Folkways founder Moses Asch is as indispensable as the first. The 28 songs have been beautifully remastered, and the liner notes -- including a 1946 tribute by Woody Guthrie -- are extensive and revealing. This second CD focuses mostly on best-available versions of songs that first appeared on Folkways' Leadbelly's Legacy, Vol. 4: Easy Rider and Midnight Special. Among the standout tracks are Leadbelly's own "Bourgeois Blues" and such folk standards as "Careless Love," "John Henry," and "Midnight Special."
Vol. 2 - Bourgeois Blues (1997)
1. Fannin Street
2. Bourgeois Blues
3. Easy Rider
Bass – Pops Foster
Guitar – Brownie McGhee
Harmonica – Sonny Terry
4. Alabama Bound
Vocals, Guitar – Cisco Houston
Vocals, Mandolin – Woody Guthrie
5. Don't You Love Your Daddy No More?
6. Gallis Pole
7. Leavin' Blues
8. Midnight Special
9. T.B. Blues
10. Linin' Track
11. Julie Ann Johnson
12. John Henry
Harmonica – Sonny Terry
13. Jim Crow Blues
14. Jim Crow #2
15. Good Morning Blues #2
16. Abraham Lincoln
17. Army Life
Written-By – Gitz Rice
18. Hitler Song
19. Careless Love
Bass – Pops Foster
Harmonica – Sonny Terry
Vocals, Guitar – Brownie McGhee
20. Haul Away Joe
21. How Do You Know?/Don't Mind The Weather
22. Skip To My Lou
23. Red Bird
24. Out On The Western Plains
25. Cowboy Song
26. You Can't Mistreat Me
27. Diggin' My Potatoes
Written-By – Big Bill Broonzy
28. John Hardy
Accordion – Lead Belly
Guitar – Lead Belly (tracks: 1 to 6, 8, 9, 11 to 23, 25 to 27)
Vocals – Lead Belly
Arranged By – Huddie Ledbetter (tracks: 3 to 6, 10, 15, 17)
Written-By – Huddie Ledbetter (tracks: 1, 2, 7, 9, 11, 13, 14, 16, 18, 21, 23 to 25)
Recorded by Moses Asch, 1941-1948, New York City
Although the original Leadbelly LP bearing this name (Folkways 31030) was drawn from October 1948 sessions, the CD reissue adds 17 tracks, some recorded as early as 1941, and so should be now considered an anthology of 1940s work. This does not rate among the best Leadbelly collections: due to illness, his guitar skills had diminished by the 1948 sessions that comprise much of the disc, and there are better versions of some of the songs elsewhere. It's still plenty worthwhile, though, particularly when Leadbelly is boosted by Sonny Terry's vocal and harmonica on several numbers, including Leroy Carr's blues "How Long, How Long." The CD is divided into thematic sections that, other than the '48 recordings, feature three patriotic tunes about U.S. efforts in World War II; five numbers recorded with Woody Guthrie and Cisco Houston in 1946, including the perennial favorite "Midnight Special"; and seven children-oriented selections.
Vol. 3 - Shout On (1998)
1. Shout On
2. Little Children's Blues
Guitar [Bottleneck] – Lead Belly
3. Governor Pat Neff
4. Ain't Going Down To The Well No More
5. Go Down Old Hannah
6. Come And Sit Down Beside Me
7. How Long, How Long
Vocals, Harmonica – Sonny Terry
Written-By – Leroy Carr
8. Old Man
9. John Henry
Guitar – Brownie McGhee
Harmonica – Sonny Terry
10. Jean Harlow
11. Birmingham Jail
12. Don't Sleep Too Long
13. It Was Early One Morning
14. Uncle Sam Says
15. If You Want To Do Your Part
16. National Defense Blues
Bass – George "Pops" Foster*
Guitar – Brownie McGhee
Harmonica – Sonny Terry
Piano – Willie "The Lion" Smith
17. Whoa Back Buck
18. Ham And Eggs
Vocals, Guitar – Cisco Houston, Woody Guthrie
19. Midnight Special
Vocals, Guitar – Cisco Houston
Vocals, Mandolin – Woody Guthrie
20. Grey Goose
Vocals – Cisco Houston, Woody Guthrie
21. Yellow Gal
Vocals – Cisco Houston
Vocals, Mandolin – Woody Guthrie
22. Green Corn
Vocals, Guitar – Cisco Houston
Vocals, Mandolin – Woody Guthrie
23. The Parting Song
24. Rooster Crows At Midnight
25. Skip To My Lou
26. More Yet / Little Boy How Old Are You / Green Grass Growing All Around
Written-by [More Yet] – Huddie Ledbetter
27. What Little Boys Are Made Of / Polly Wee
Written-by [Polly Wee] – Huddie Ledbetter
28. Ha Ha This A-Way
29. You Can't Lose Me, Cholly
30. It Was Soon One Morning
31. Take This Hammer
32. Pick A Bale Of Cotton
Harmonica – Sonny Terry
Vocals, Guitar – Brownie McGhee
Guitar – Lead Belly (tracks: 1 to 3, 5 to 32)
Vocals – Lead Belly
Arranged By – Huddie Ledbetter (tracks: 1, 5, 8, 11, 17, 21 to 24, 28, 30, 31)
Written-By – Huddie Ledbetter (tracks: 2 to 4, 10, 12 to 16, 29)
Recorded by Frederic Ramsey Jr., Moses Asch, 1941-48, New York City
