Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection

Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection, the first career-spanning box set dedicated to the American music icon, is a 5 CD, 140-page, large-format book featuring 5 hours of music with 16 unreleased tracks. The limited-edition poster and t-shirt package has sold out.

Lead Belly is “the hard name of a harder man,” said Woody Guthrie of his friend and fellow American music icon who was born Huddie Ledbetter (c. 1888–1949). From the swamplands of Louisiana, the prisons of Texas, and the streets of New York City, Lead Belly and his music became cornerstones of American folk music and touchstones of African American cultural legacy.

With his 12-string Stella guitar, he sang out a cornucopia of songs that included his classics “The Midnight Special,” “Irene,” “The Bourgeois Blues,” and many more, which in turn have been covered by musical notables such as the Beach Boys, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Van Morrison, Nirvana, Odetta, Little Richard, Pete Seeger, Frank Sinatra and Tom Waits. Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection brings us the story of the man as well as the musician. 5 Discs, 108 tracks (16 unreleased), 5 hours of music, historic photos, extensive notes, and 140-page book.

Limited-Edition Poster and T-Shirt
Designed by Fritz Klaetke (Visual Dialogue), GRAMMY-winning art director for Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection, this unframed, 16” x 20” poster is individually numbered out of 300 and printed on high-quality paper with matte finish. The unisex t-shirt is printed on 100% cotton.

This project was produced in coordination with the Lead Belly Estate, The John Reynolds Collection/Lead Belly Society, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Track Listing

101	Irene (Goodnight Irene)	Lead Belly	01:53
102	The Bourgeois Blues	Lead Belly	02:18
103	Fannin Street (Mister Tom Hughes Town)	Lead Belly	03:30
104	The Midnight Special	Lead Belly	02:03
105	John Henry	Lead Belly with Sonny Terry	03:10
106	Black Girl (Where Did You Sleep Last Night)	Lead Belly	02:07
107	Pick a Bale of Cotton	Lead Belly and The Oleander Quartet	01:30
108	Take This Hammer	Lead Belly	02:15
109	Cotton Fields	Lead Belly	02:06
110	Old Riley	Lead Belly	01:58
111	Rock Island Line	Lead Belly	02:02
112	The Gallis Pole	Lead Belly	02:45
113	Ha-Ha This a Way	Lead Belly	01:34
114	Sukey Jump	Lead Belly	01:04
115	Boll Weevil	Lead Belly	03:07
116	Scottsboro Boys	Lead Belly	04:32
117	Governor O.K. Allen	Lead Belly	02:37
118	Governor Pat Neff	Lead Belly	03:40
119	There's a Man Going Around Taking Names	Lead Belly	01:24
120	On a Monday	Lead Belly with Sonny Terry	01:47
121	You Can't Lose Me, Cholly	Lead Belly	02:37
122	Keep Your Hands Off Her	Lead Belly	02:51
123	We Shall Be Free	Lead Belly with Woody Guthrie and Cisco Houston	02:34
201	Alabama Bound	Lead Belly with Woody Guthrie and Cisco Houston	02:17
202	Almost Day	Lead Belly	01:05
203	Fiddler's Dram	Lead Belly with Woody Guthrie and Cisco Houston	02:28
204	Green Corn	Lead Belly	01:15
205	Sally Walker	Lead Belly	02:40
206	Bring Me a Little Water, Silvy	Lead Belly	00:48
207	Julie Ann Johnson	Lead Belly	00:41
208	Linin' Track	Lead Belly	01:11
209	Whoa, Back, Buck	Lead Belly	02:09
210	Shorty George	Lead Belly	01:28
211	Ham and Eggs	Lead Belly	01:42
212	Moanin'	Lead Belly	01:00
213	Out on the Western Plains	Lead Belly	01:31
214	Noted Rider	Lead Belly	02:50
215	Meeting at the Building	Lead Belly	00:59
216	Good, Good, Good (Talking, Preaching) / We Shall Walk Through the Valley	Lead Belly	02:11
217	Ain't You Glad (The Blood Done Signed My Name)	Lead Belly	02:19
218	I'm So Glad, I Done Got Over	Lead Belly	01:21
219	The Hindenburg Disaster	Lead Belly	03:22
220	Ella Speed	Lead Belly	05:48
221	Haul Away Joe	Lead Belly	02:48
222	Old Man	Lead Belly	02:35
223	Sweet Jenny Lee	Lead Belly	01:51
224	Jean Harlow	Lead Belly	01:40
225	Laura	Lead Belly	01:41
226	Queen Mary	Lead Belly	04:46
301	Good Morning Blues	Lead Belly with Sonny Terry	02:23
302	Sail On, Little Girl (You Can't Mistreat Me)	Lead Belly	03:14
303	Easy Rider	Lead Belly	02:51
304	Poor Howard	Lead Belly	01:36
305	Duncan and Brady	Lead Belly	04:06
306	How Long, How Long	Lead Belly and Sonny Terry	02:13
307	T.B. Blues	Lead Belly	03:43
308	Jim Crow Blues	Lead Belly	03:30
309	Pigmeat	Lead Belly	02:33
310	John Hardy	Lead Belly	02:43
311	Outskirts of Town	Lead Belly and Sonny Terry	02:40
312	4, 5, and 9	Lead Belly	02:20
313	In the Evening (When the Sun Goes Down)	Lead Belly	03:29
314	Red Cross Store Blues	Lead Belly	03:09
315	Diggin' My Potatoes (1)	Lead Belly and Brownie McGee	02:34
316	Blind Lemon	Lead Belly	01:39
317	When a Man's a Long Way from Home	Lead Belly	02:57
318	Alberta	Lead Belly	03:11
319	Excerpt from "The Lonesome Train"	Lead Belly	03:11
320	National Defense Blues	Lead Belly	03:13
321	Hitler Song (Mr. Hitler)	Lead Belly	04:31
322	Big Fat Woman	Lead Belly	01:10
323	Been So Long (Bellevue Hospital Blues)	Lead Belly	02:44
401	WNYC Folk Songs of America: Grey Goose / Boll Weevil / Yellow Gal / Ha-Ha This a Way / Leaving Blues / Irene	Lead Belly	14:42
402	WNYC Folk Songs of America: Almost Day / Blues in My Kitchen / Blues in My Dining Room / I Went Up on the Mountain / Good Morning Blues / Baby, Don't You Love Me No More / T.B. Blues / Irene	Lead Belly and the Oleander Quartet	14:45
403	If It Wasn't for Dicky	Lead Belly	02:15
404	What's You Gonna Do When the World's on Fire	Lead Belly with Anne Graham	02:12
405	Rock Me (Hide Me in Thy Bosom)	Lead Belly with Anne Graham	02:19
406	Packin' Trunk Blues	Lead Belly	02:35
407	Leaving Blues	Lead Belly	02:58
408	How Come You Do Me like You Do?	Lead Belly	03:26
409	One Dime Blues	Lead Belly	02:25
410	I'm Going to Buy You a Brand New Ford	Lead Belly	01:40
411	Jail-house Blues	Lead Belly	01:13
412	Shout On	Lead Belly	02:09
413	Come and Sit Down beside Me	Lead Belly	01:02
414	Red River	Lead Belly	02:14
501	Yes, I Was Standing in the Bottom / When It's Springtime in the Rockies	Lead Belly	01:41
502	Ain't Going Down to the Well No More (Version 2)	Lead Belly	01:23
503	Everytime I Go Out	Lead Belly	01:25
504	Go Down, Old Hannah	Lead Belly	04:58
505	Black Betty	Lead Belly	01:53
506	Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out	Lead Belly with Bessie Smith	03:42
507	Stewball	Lead Belly with Martha Ledbetter	02:34
508	Ain't It a Shame to Go Fishin' on a Sunday	Lead Belly	01:22
509	Relax Your Mind	Lead Belly	04:05
510	Princess Elizabeth	Lead Belly	03:33
511	Silver City Bound	Lead Belly	06:01
512	The Titanic	Lead Belly	05:11
513	House of the Rising Sun	Lead Belly and Martha Ledbetter	02:24
514	It’s Tight like That	Lead Belly	03:09