Track Listing

1. More Yet
2. Boll Weevil
3. Little Boy, How Old Are You?
4. Skip to My Lou
5. Red Bird
6. Sally Walker
7. Ha Ha This A-Way
8. Grey Goose
9. Christmas Is Coming
10. Blue Tail Fly
11. Polly Wee (The Frog Song)
12. Pig Latin Song
13. When a Man's a Long Way from Home
14. Good Morning Blues
15. By and by When the Morning Comes
16. Every Time I Feel the Spirit/Swing Low, Sweet Chariot/They Hung Him on
17. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
18. Rock Island Line
19. Cotton Fields
20. Old Man
21. John Henry
22. Julie Ann Johnson
23. Whoa Back Buck
24. You Can't Lose Me, Cholly
25. Midnight Special
26. Pick a Bale of Cotton
27. Take This Hammer
28. We're in the Same Boat, Brother

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20225 in Music
• Released on: 1999-03-23
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds

Album Description
This new collection features delightful songs for young children as well as the work songs, blues, and spirituals Lead Belly used to teach children about the experiences and emotions of adult life. Originally reocrded in children's concerts and studios for asch and Folkways records in the 1940s, the 28 songs and spoken introductions reveal the humor, humanity, and musical genius of one of the great artists of the twentieth century. Essential listening for all ages. Produced by Moses Asch. Reissue compiled and annotated by Jeff Place.

Amazon.com
Leadbelly wasn't exactly the Raffi of the Roosevelt era. Convicted of attempted murder and murder, the man born Huddie Leadbelly on January 20, 1888, in Mooringsport, Louisiana, began forging a career as a performer in the 1930s after his discovery by John and Alan Lomax. By then he'd developed an enormous repertoire as well deft vocal and instrumental skills. Despite his sordid past, Leadbelly won over adults and children alike; this generous 28-song collection demonstrates the source of his pied-piper appeal. While the master of the 12-string guitar drew upon traditional kid fare ("Skip to My Lou," "Blue-Tailed Fly"), he recognized that plenty of goodies from his adult bag of songs appealed to tykes, too. Consequently, blues, work songs, and prison numbers turn up in this gratifying collection, which consists of a 1960-released children's LP in its entirety, plus selections from two other records and a previously unreleased radio track. --Steven Stolder

Customer Reviews

An album to all of the family!!
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!

An album that doesn't patronize children
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.

A brilliant album for all ages
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.