Details
Track Listing
1. New Orleans
2. Goodnight, Irene
3. Where Did You Sleep Last Night
4. How Long
5. John Hardy
6. When I Was a Cowboy
7. Pretty Flower in Your Back Yard
8. Roberta
9. Pretty Flower in Your Back Yard
10. Yellow Gal
Album Notes
Personnel: Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter (vocals, 12-string guitar); Josh White, Sr. (vocals, guitar); Sonny Terry (vocals, harmonica).
Includes liner notes by Anton Glovsky.
Named after possibly his most famous song, the 10-track compilation GOODNIGHT IRENE is intended as a brief introduction to the immense output of one of the 20th century's most prolific, influential, and unique artists. Though you most often find Leadbelly's music filed under "blues" in the record store, Huddie Ledbetter's genius was in the way he fused the traditional acoustic Delta blues of his rural Louisiana home with elements of folk, jazz, country, and pop, creating something startlingly new in the process. The title track is for all intents a straight pop song, and the other tracks include scarifying blues ("Where Did You Sleep Last Night?"), folk ballads ("John Hardy"), cowboy songs ("When I Was a Cowboy"), and rollicking originals ("Yellow Gal"), all of which emphasize Leadbelly's amazing range. As always with Rykodisc releases, the sound, liner notes, and packaging are superb.
Industry Reviews
...[the GOODNIGHT IRENE recordings] are an important document that captured Leadbetter in his prime...
Dirty Linen (06/01/1996)
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