Customer Reviews

Leadbelly Sings For Children

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I'm a bluesfan and have a daughter at age of 11,and since she was a baby the blues was ever a sound listened in my home.So,she likes the blues,and when i 've brought this Leadbelly album,she becomed so interested in that kind of music and it touched me inside.I've explained her all of the history of blues,specially in the person of Leadbelly,his own history too,the hard days at Angola prison,his lyrics asking for liberty,the poverty of that days,and specially the capacity of that suffered man to change all of his own life,when he decided to do what he really knows better,just to play and to sing.Then i could explain her that the man can changes the reality,just with some educative activities,and the music ,is one of that.
So, i really recomends this album for all of the families,as a good way to start new relations between all of this families members! We must believe in the capacity to change our lives with good intentions and with actions to reach all we want.
The cover art of this cd reveals the envolvement between an experienced bluesman,and that younger audience,linked by just the great music that echoes from Leadbelly guitar!
This is a historical set of musics for adults and childrens everywhere.To the family!

I firmly believe that children deserve the same quality in the music as we demand for ourselves. Leadbelly delivers on that same assumption, recognizing that there is no firm line to be drawn between child and adult music. The Gospel numbers - "By and By When the Morning Comes" etc. and some of the blues - "Good Morning Blues" come to mind. Leadbelly is one of the tops folk/blues musicians - a fact this album firmly affirms. But he is comfortable singing humorous songs such as "More Yet" which appeal primary to the younger children. The bits of conversation included on the album sound as if he is as comfortable in person with children as they will be with this album.

In many ways, this album is an oddity. First, it is a blues album. The blues are supposed to be about sadness and hard times, yet this a remarkably upbeat album, Second, it is a children's album, except that it may be better appreciated by adults. I have not played this album to children, so I can't say what today's children will make of this album.

There are some traditional children's songs here, including Skip to my Lou, Grey goose and Blue-tailed fly (Jimmy crack corn), but there are other songs which you are more likely to find on standard albums, including Swing low sweet chariot, Rock Island line, Cotton fields, John Henry and Midnight special.

The songs here are sequenced such that all the genuine children's songs are at the front. After all of those come the blues and spirituals. Then come the work songs. Finally, you get some of Leadbelly's best-known songs. This last category confuses things slightly. After all, Cotton fields (included in the work songs) and Pick a bale of cotton (included in the famous songs) fit both categories. If anything, Cotton fields is the more famous of the two. Still, the order in which the songs appear is really not that important, although it was wise to put the real children's songs up front.

I have several children's albums, all carefully selected. This one definitely appeals to adults and serves as a great introduction to Leadbelly's music.

The songs on this CD are delightful. Not being an educator nor a parent, I won't speculate on the efficacy of this CD for young people. I know that I like it, and it brings a smile to my face as I listen to Mr. Ledbetter. Even the song about a menacing bug, BOLLWEEVIL, is fun the way he plays it. The PIG LATIN SONG is so ridiculous and childlike, I just have to laugh. I enjoy the standards by Mr Ledbetter, also, GOOD MORNING BLUES, ROCK ISLAND LINE and COTTON FIELDS. Mr Jeff Place writes a comprehenseive set of notes which explains a great deal about this great man's life. "Through Alan Lomax, he met people like Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Aunt Molly Jackson, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, and Josh White, and all of the musicians he encountered were influenced by Lead Belly's music." As an introduction to the song WHEN A MAN'S A LONG WAY FROM HOME, Mr Place writes, "Lead Belly clearly thought that children could be introduced to the feeling of the blues," The Columnist Walter Winchel wrote, "How could anyone make a children's record with a convicted murderer?" Smithsonian Folkways did, and I am glad of that. If you are interested in the songs of Mr Huddie LedBetter (1888-1949) or if you are interested in delightful Folk Tunes from the US, this CD will be interesting to you.

I resolved to have them play Jimmy Crack Corn at my funeral--it might be the only way I can every get anyone to listen to this tune. It's sublime.
Leadbelly is ineffable. If you have only heard his blues, I don't think you've really heard the whole man. You must buy this record!
Singing and talking to kids brings out his incredible sweetness. No wonder he got those governers to spring him from prison!

Many "children's" album, I consider to be so banal as to be an insult to children. Children do enjoy quality music and that is what Lead Belly gives them. Some of the songs are songs that are common on children's album such as Skip to My Lou or Grey Goose. Some are spirituals that children frequently enjoy use as Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. Some are humorous - More Yet and Pig Latin Song. To all of them, Lead Belly brings his superb musicianship - in no way "dumbed down" for kids. This is a album parents (and grandparents) won't mind hearing over and over ... as you can be assured it will be.

Not only was Huddie Ledbetter a geat Blues songwriter he was also the King Of The Twelve String Guitar which made him unique among his contemporaries. Anybody who has tried to play a 12 string guitar knws it takes a lot of strength and muscle . This album contains some fine and unforgettable tracks such as 'Good Morning Blues", "Irene Goodnight", "Rock Island Line" and "Midnight Special" which was inspired by his time in Prison. The story behind this song is that if a train's light shone on a Prisoner then he would soon be released. The greatness of this artist can be seen by the many cover versions of his songs which were released by many well known artists such as Johnny Cash and John Fogarty. It is interesting to note just where Huddie got the nickname "Leadbelly". I have heard it was given to him by a prostitute who admired his Sexual Prowess or another version where he was shot in the stomache but thankfully survived. Or perhaps it was just a misspelling of his surname. This guy was and is a Blues Legend.