In the depression of the 1930s, John Lomax found convicted murderer Leadbelly in a southern jail. Leadbelly\'s music was never quite as pure and untouched by pop as Lomax believed, but it set a new agenda for folk music, redefining it as the voice of protest, the voice of the outsider and the oppressed.
In the depression of the 1930s, John Lomax found convicted murderer Leadbelly in a southern jail. Leadbelly\'s music was never quite as pure and untouched by pop as Lomax believed, but it set a new agenda for folk music, redefining it as the voice of protest, the voice of the outsider and the oppressed.