Ledbetter and Lomax set out on an arduous journey to record in Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Texas – primarily on prison farms overwhelmingly holding Black prisoners. Ledbetter learns some tunes for which he will later become famous, including “The Rock Island Line.” The strain of their grossly unequal relationship wears Ledbetter down, even as Lomax’s hopes to present the performer to northern audiences build. This chapter explores Ledbetter’s musical aspirations, from his early years as a child prodigy to his time in the Dallas area with Blind Lemon Jefferson.

A month into their travels together, tensions between Ledbetter and Lomax are reaching a breaking point. In Montgomery, they record at Kilby Prison, where the Scottsboro “boys” are being held; later, Lomax will write and perform a song to aid their defense. Later in Montgomery, an argument pushes Ledbetter to walk away from Lomax, and their future together seems uncertain. Lomax is working to secure a place for himself and his “discovery” at the annual meeting of the prestigious Modern Language Association, to be held in Philadelphia in late December, and is relieved when Ledbetter re-emerges, ready to try again.

The fragile alliance has held, and the Modern Language Association (MLA) approved Lomax’s proposal that he unveil Ledbetter at the annual meeting. Joined by Alan Lomax, the trio continue to head north in early December, continuing to collect songs along the way in Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. They spend Christmas in Washington, D.C. and then head to the MLA gathering, where Lomax insists that Ledbetter be presented not in the suit and bowtie he prefers, but in the outfit of a prisoner: dungaree overalls, a work shirt, and a straw hat. “Lead Belly” is thus introduced to his largest audience ever, and a storm of sensational and racist publicity follows.

In September 1934, John Lomax and Huddie Ledbetter, now free, met up at a hotel in Marshall, Texas. Alan was sick, and Ledbetter would take his place driving and assisting Lomax with the ongoing music collection on behalf of the Library of Congress (now that collecting for American Ballads was complete). This chapter explores the backgrounds of each man, both of whom were brought by their families to Texas as young children, and the very different opportunities and challenges they faced in the Jim Crow South.

By the middle of February, 1935, the maelstrom of publicity that greeted the Lomaxes and Ledbetter at the start of the year is waning. Hoping to raise some attention and funds, John Lomax plans an ambitious performing tour of upstate New York. His relationship with Ledbetter reaches a breaking point, however, with Lomax claiming to be in fear for his life. By the end of March, the Ledbetters are boarding a bus for Shreveport. But Lomax’s need to control Ledbetter continues, leading Huddie and Martha to suspect that they are being cheated. A battle between lawyers representing the Ledbetters and John Lomax ensues, and is not fully resolved for two years.

Despite the publicity, reporters do not investigate the arrest, just five years earlier, that landed Ledbetter in the Louisiana State Penitentiary. This chapter does so, looking at his arrest in Mooringsport on January 15, 1930 and at the protracted, but ultimately unsuccessful, legal battle waged on Ledbetter’s behalf by a white law firm. On the basis of the evidence, and unpublished drafts of the Lomaxes’ book, it seems that the Lomaxes, too, had reason to doubt the story as edited for their book.

In a major correction to the Ledbetter legend, this chapter explores a series of events and trials that led to Huddie Ledbetter being sentenced to a chain gang (a road work crew) in 1915, despite his parents turning over 30 acres of land – nearly half of their hard-earned farm – to a white law firm they hired to defend him.

On December 9, 1949, Huddie Ledbetter died in a New York hospital at the age of sixty. This chapter briefly looks at the life that he and Martha remade after their permanent return to New York in early 1936. It also looks at damage caused to Ledbetter’s career by the November 1936 publication of Negro Folk Songs as Sung by Lead Belly, as well as all of the Lomax-driven publicity over the previous two years. In 1939, an altercation at a party hosted by the Ledbetters leads an unsympathetic prosecutor and judge, citing false narratives about Lead Belly, to incarcerate him yet again, this time at Rikers. Released later in 1939, he and Martha continue to build a new life. Over time, Huddie Ledbetter builds a celebrated (but not remunerative) career with significant impact on the folk and labor movements as well as the ongoing evolution of American musical forms, including rock and roll.

In another correction to the Ledbetter legend, this chapter explores in depth the events of 1917 and 1918 that resulted in Ledbetter’s incarceration, under the alias “Walter Boyd,” in Texas state prisons. After spending two years at the Shaw State Farm near DeKalb, he is transferred along with other Black men to the Imperial State Farm at Sugar Land, and it is there that he comes into contact with Texas Governor Pat Neff. In January 1925, as Neff leaves office, he responds to Ledbetter’s pleas and grants him a full pardon.