Who was Leadbelly? You can read the biography (Charles Wolfe and Kip Lornell: The Life and Legend of Leadbelly, an excellent book) or see the film (Gordon Parks: Leadbelly, 1976, starring Roger Mosley)--one which never got the attention it deserved--or listen to his music--all of which (to my mind, at least) still leave us with the question: who WAS Leadbelly?
Here's an artist who's had an enormous influence on American culture (legend really is the right word.) And yet, in many ways, a very private man. How do we to work back from the songs, the written word, and the photographs (as above, gathered on-line) to the man himself?
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