Huddie Ledbetter was far from the ignorant thug that was implied by his physique and prison record - an image backed up with tales of being pardoned for murder not once but twice. The musicologist Alan Lomax tried to put up bail for him after an assault charge in 1939 and lead him to a 1940 recording session for RCA with the Golden Gate Quartet. Neither party was keen on the idea but more songs were recorded than could fit onto the resulting album.
"Alabama Bound" was a song from the oral tradition that Huddie would have picked up early in his career, though he had to teach it to the gospel group just before the recordings. Though the album sold slowly at first he pronounced himself happy with the results. Within he weeks he was back to cut more songs that would be part of the historic Library of Congress albums. From there Lead Belly went in search of a career in Hollywood and got as far as doing a screen test. The song was the kickstart to Lonnie Donegan and the British Skiffle Movement - the rest is history.
STAR BLUES chose the song to mark the foul weather currently causing so much devastation in Alabama. We used the volume of Lead Belly recordings issued by Orbis publications in the Blues Collection magazines. Details of a current cd release of this version of the song are not found.
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