Topic: Ledbetter in Wilton, Conn,

[RB]

A concurrent discussion about Ledbetter prompts me to ask if anyone knows the address of the house he stayed at in Wilton, Conn in 1936 when first 'brought' north by Lomax (and any other interesting details about his stay in that rural town).  I think I recall that Lomax was given the use of the house by Barnicle and I believe I've seen some photographs of the place.

My memory is not as good as it once was so I only vaguely recall details about Barnicle, whom I have read about and whom I believe was a NYC resident with a second home there in the little Conn, town.

I have an additional interest in that a relative of mine--also raised as a NYC resident--as a child also visited Wilton--in the exact time period of Ledbetter's stay there--as his parents had a 'second' summer home there, too, (I remember going to his mother's funeral there in 1985 or so).  This same relative may have seen Ledbetter perform in NYC in the 1940's (and also wrote at least one published poem whose setting is Wilton).

So, any details or leads about Lebetter in Wilton would be appreciated.  I do have the John Reynolds picture book about L that I think discusses this some.   Thanks.

[RB]

The same concurrent discussion about Ledbetter (whose grave I visited in September,1971, later in the same day, driving back to Vermont from Austin, Tex--where my wife was raised--as we had stopped to see Lemon Jefferson's grave) mentions that Harry Lewman is dead, which I didn't know. 

I corresponded with him a little when his Ledbetter songbook was published.  I woulod like to know more details abouty Lewman also.

[uncle bud]

Leadbelly and Lomax stayed in a summer house that Mary Barnicle and Margaret Conklin shared in Wilton. They stayed two months. It was a two-hundred-year-old New England farmhouse that had once been owned by Francis Perkins (Secretary of Labor under Roosevelt). Three bedrooms upstairs, "several rooms and a cellar downstairs, and a picturesque stone fence outside. It was built into the side of a hill, surrounded by venerable trees, including a massive fir that was all of eighty feet tall. From the sitting room window one could see a nearby lake."

All from The Life and Legend of Leadbelly by Wolfe and Lornell. Sorry, no address.

[Bunker Hill]

From memory the Wolfe-Lornell book also gives details of somebody who, at the time of their research, was writing a biography of Barnicle. I'm away from home so unable to skim through the book.

[uncle bud]

From memory the Wolfe-Lornell book also gives details of somebody who, at the time of their research, was writing a biography of Barnicle. I'm away from home so unable to skim through the book.

That would be Willie Smyth, according to page 190.

Re. Harry Lewman. I thought we had a thread here but can't seem to find it. He passed away in 2008, I believe, at far too young an age. He was a friend of the family and of course a Leadbelly expert. I met him some years ago when he was at the Port Townsend Country Blues workshop with Tiny Robinson, Leadbelly's niece. I did not know him at all really but he came across as a really nice, gentle and friendly guy.

[RB]

Thanks, both.  I have a copy of the Wolfe/Lornell book here, I bought it, it notes in October, 1996, and I wrote then 'I've read this book twice previously.'

I see that Smyth is said to be in this 1992 book, on page 190, as stated, 'Barnicle's biographer.' Barnicle lived from c 1891 to 1978, therefore she was about Ledbetter's age.  (Lornell and Wolfe have her attending 'Brown College in Vermont,' of which there never was one: I believe that Brown in Rhode Island was meant.)

I know New England.  Someone could visit the town clerk's office in Wilton and check land records.  That would probably give the location of the house in question.  It is clear to me that the place and town were already a 'smart' place in the mid-1930's.

Thank you for the note about Lewman.  I was sorry to hear of his death, he seemed like a good fellow to me.

[CF]

Does anyone know if any of these Mary Barnicle recordings of Leadbelly are available on CD? B&GR lists 4 songs recorded Feb 22, 1940 & I found online that more recordings were made in 1948. I've been looking for the better part of an hour trying to find out if they've made it to CD but all I could find was the holdings list at the Archives of Appalachia

http://archives.etsu.edu/?p=collections/controlcard&id=459

[Bunker Hill]

Does anyone know if any of these Mary Barnicle recordings of Leadbelly are available on CD? B&GR lists 4 songs recorded Feb 22, 1940 & I found online that more recordings were made in 1948. I've been looking for the better part of an hour trying to find out if they've made it to CD but all I could find was the holdings list at the Archives of Appalachia

The entry in Blues Discography 1943-1970 notes:

The Mary Elizabeth Barnicle-Tillman Cadle archive at East Tennessee State University has over 70 unissued recordings of Leadbelly (dating c. 15 June 1948)

That's it!

[CF]

Thanks BH . . . I asked over at the RBF & got the same response. The Archive of Appalachia lists these holdings so I've emailed them to see if the recordings are at all available.

Edited to add:

Here's the response. No go. You can go there & listen to them though.

Thank you for contacting the Archives of Appalachia regarding the Mary Elizabeth Barnicle - Tillman Cadle Collection. We are unable to provide copies of the materials requested due to copyright restrictions. The recordings are open to the public in the Archives' reading room Monday - Friday, 9am - 4:30pm. For more information on visiting the Archives, please see the attached Researcher?s Guide to the Archives of Appalachia.

[StoogeKebab]

Well that's slightly depressing. Is there any way that they would potentially become available in future? Such as when some law would allow someone to say "this is officially copyright free now"? I'm in Australia for crying out loud! What am I supposed to do! I mean, I though finding out that there might be 25 recordings of Leadbelly surviving in France that I would never here was bad, here we have over 70 that definitely do exist and will never meet my longing ears...

[bnemerov]

Hi Stooge,

If it will ease your mind, I can tell you the ETSU recordings are nothing special---titles he'd recorded commercially, for the LoC and on radio with little or no variation in the lyric or guitar parts.
Leadbelly arrived at a "fixed" version of a song and always performed it that way, unlike others who played different every time.

Leadbelly would get pissed-off at the Lomaxes and go stay with Tilman Cadle at his cabin in E. TN. Cadle had gotten a disc recorder and Leadbelly made discs at Cadle's request.
Cadle didn't coax anything exceptional out of Leadbelly.

I know this because I listened to all the discs when the donation was made to ETSU. Charles Wolfe and I went up there and assessed the collection and I gave their newly hired audio archivist some advice about care, storage and transfer processes.

Again, don't obsess over this stuff; you've probably heard all these songs elsewhere.

best,
bruce

[oddenda]

Bruce -

          What you say is no doubt true, but folks will ignore a considered opinion. THEY GOTTA HEAR THEM AT ALL COSTS!!! The fate of the completest/collector mentality. As for S/K, put your head between your legs and take deep breaths! As a side-bar, I wish that there were folks as wound up as your are about Leadbelly regarding the materials I recorded in the field in the SE in the 70s! I was in the last right place at the right time and all, but without an audience, it all lies fallow. Such is life.

Peter B.

[CF]

We have so many recordings of Leadbelly as it is &, as Bruce says, better recordings so it's not the end of the world. Nice to hear stuff if it exists though.
Mr. Lowry there's gotta be someone with enough interest to go through the contents of your storage unit & save that great music you have?? You should take it to the RBF on FB & put it out there, what you have is a goldmine of culture . . . the Trix releases are revelatory . . . these recent Paramount sets, the George Mitchell box collection . . . there's a small but intrigued audience out there. Your contributions have been sadly under-represented in the CD/digital age.

[dj]

I wish that there were folks as wound up as you are about Leadbelly regarding the materials I recorded in the field in the SE in the 70s!

There are some of us who are, Peter.  Unfortunately, worldwide we probably number in the hundreds, not thousands.

[StoogeKebab]

What you say is no doubt true, but folks will ignore a considered opinion. THEY GOTTA HEAR THEM AT ALL COSTS!!! The fate of the completest/collector mentality. As for S/K, put your head between your legs and take deep breaths!

I make no testament as to my level of sanity or rationality, I just enjoy every version, even the subtle differences, this goes for all the artists I enjoy in the style, I have some 200 different versions of the same 20 odd Bukka White songs from Ash Grove live tapes. This is out of my now 12222 Blues (Electric/Country/Folk/Gospel/Early Rock/British Blues) songs in my iTunes library. Out of this number, I would estimate that around 30 percent are not unique. So I will not ignore the advice offered, relating to the average nature and the deep breaths, yet still hope I will be able to hear them someday, and DEFINITELY rest in the comfort that they were given advice about preservation so that one day, I can. That's assuming I don't have a stroke due to not hearing some pointless alternative take of a song I already have 10 copies of by the time I'm 20.

[frailer24]

I second Stooge's post!

[Mr.OMuck]

Eric Von Schmidt of the Green pastures of Harvard university, whose first Prestige album is prominently featured on the cover of The Mighty Bob's Highway 61 Revisited, and Folk Era album, and poster art illustrator extraordinaire, grew up in Connecticut. He relates (somewhere, positively 4th st. maybe?) the story of hearing Leadbelly on the radio late at night thus blowing his mind and setting him on the Blues path. He discovered later to his sorrow that that same Leadbelly lived just down the road somewhere at the same time he did, and he might have had an opportunity to meet his hero.

[wreid75]

"He discovered later to his sorrow that that same Leadbelly lived just down the road somewhere at the same time he did, and he might have had an opportunity to meet his hero."

That is none of the saddest things I have heard in a while

[RB]

Well, von Schmidt--I see by looking it up--was born in 1931 and lived in Westport. Connecticut, which is not far from Wilton.  When Ledbetter was there that famous time, 1934, von Schmidt was two or three years old.  That doesn't mean that von Schmidt didn't feel at connection, I'd guess he did.

When I was in Ledbetter's home town of Mooringsport, La, in August, 1971, a rural store owner asked me--when I asked about Ledbetter--if I 'was a friend of his.' No, I said, he died ten days before I was born.   I felt a connection anyhow, maybe even more so.

Wilton and Westport were then artsy places for New Yorkers.