482: Leadbelly leaves prison for the last time and moves to New York City
Hudy Ledbetter’s musical legacy is profound, with songs like “Midnight Special,” The Bourgeois Blues,” “John Hardy,” Rock Island Line,” and hundreds of others written to his credit. Born in 1889 near Shrevesport, Louisiana, Leadbelly also had a troubled life as he was in and out of prison during the 1920’s and Thirties. In 1934 blues legend Leadbelly got out of jail and moved to New York. Trouble found Leadbelly once again and he landed back in jail in 1939. After his release he went back to New York and became friends with Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. Goodnight Irene was one of the classic Leadbelly tunes and is based on the 1886 song by Gussie L. Davis. Leadbelly himself said he had learned it from his uncle. It was a US #1 hit for folk group The Weavers in 1950.
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