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Office of Communications Gwen Campbell Media, Community & Education Relations Tel. 318.673.5062 / Fax: 318.673.5087 gwen.campbell@shreveportla.gov | ||
Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter was a man whose life, like that of any other man, had its ups and downs. Good or bad, he told the world about those things through his music, becoming one of the most well-known, inspirational and respected American folk blues musicians of all-time. | On Saturday, May 9, Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter and his legacy will be celebrated with the first-ever Lead Belly Blues and Folk Festival at Festival Plaza in downtown Shreveport. | “There are so many great and notable things about this festival being in Shreveport,” says Shreveport Mayor Cedric B. Glover. “I sincerely thank the Ledbetter family and the Lead Belly Music Foundation for the opportunity to allow the citizens of Shreveport to show their love and appreciation for a legend whose extraordinary musical gifts brought world wide notoriety to the place he called home. I envision such a magnitude of success this weekend, organizers will have no choice but to make Shreveport the festival’s permanent home.” | The event will feature musicians Buddy Flett; Ruthie Foster; Bobby Rush; Kenny Neal and the Neal Family Reunion; Eddie Shaw and the Wolfgang; Johnny Rawls and Destiny Rawls; James Robinson; and the Bluebirds. | Lead Belly was born on a plantation on January 20, 1889, in nearby Mooringsport, Louisiana. By the time he was 14 years old, he was a popular musician and singer in the weekend “sukey jumps” and “juke joints.” He later became known as the “King of the 12-String Guitar,” with “Stella,” as he affectionately called his guitar, held tightly in his hands. | In between prison stints, he performed and wrote songs, of which the most notable are “Goodnight Irene” and “House of the Rising Sun.” | Lead Belly felt his music and talents were gifts from God, and in his lifetime he wrote children’s songs, field songs, ballads, square dance songs, prison songs, folk and blues songs. | Lead Belly died in 1949 and was interred in the cemetery of Shiloh Baptist Church in Mooringsport, about 13 miles outside of Shreveport. A life-sized bronze statue of Lead Belly stands at Texas and Marshall Streets in downtown Shreveport. Created by Jesse Pitts and dedicated in 1993, the statue shows him pointing toward Ledbetter Heights, a historic area named in his honor. | Today Lead Belly is remembered not only as a musical giant but a legend in his own right throughout the world. Artists like The Beetles, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Little Richard, have all expressed their early studies of music to Lead Belly’s records. | Many of his songs can be found in the Library of Congress, where generations to come can listen and enjoy them. | Tickets to the Lead Belly Festival are $20 in advance. For tickets or for more information, call 1-877-7-LBELLY or visit http://leadbellybluesfestival.com. |
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