Easy Rider: Leadbelly Legacy, Vol. 4

This collection of songs by Lead Belly was assembled by Folkways founder Moses Asch from recordings made in the early to mid-1940s, and it focuses primarily on Lead Belly’s observations on the hate and racism that permeated America and the world during this turbulent period of history. Songs like “Jim Crow” and “Bourgeois Blues” reflect his anger at the discrimination he and others experienced as African Americans, while “Hitler” was his condemnation of Hitler and anti-Semitism.

In 2019, Easy Rider was reissued on vinyl, remastered from the original 1940s master tapes, and packaged in classic Folkways-style tip-on jackets with the original liner notes.