“This here song,” the late Huddie (“Lead Belly”) Ledbetter used to explain, “was made about a man an’ a girl was walkin’ along one Sunday evenin’. Jus’ befo’ this girl an’ man got to de house, she ...

All hurricanes have names, but this one has its own theme song, and a great one at that. “Goodnight, Irene” is a classic American folk song credited to Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter. In the 1950s, the ...

EVEN TO close friends, the Weavers’ 1950 recording of “Goodnight Irene” was as puzzling as if Soviet dictator Josef Stalin had picked up a fiddle and done three minutes of “Turkey in the Straw. The ...

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. First recorded in 1934 by Lead Belly the 'Homicidal Harmoniser', David Cheal follows the waltzing lament of ...

With thousands of folks already fleeing parts of North Carolina and news of its remnants already being tracked in the New York tri-state area. . .all eyes are definitely on Irene, but some ears are on ...

The echoes of taps from yesterday’s celebration of Veterans Day have barely faded away. Not that we needed another reminder of veterans’ sacrifices but the time seemed to tell me that today is a good ...

DEERFIELD, Mass. -- The Connecticut River Watershed Council announces the program and the performers for its Goodnight Irene concert at Deerfield Academy’s Memorial Hall auditorium on Tuesday, Aug. 28 ...

When Lucius‘ Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig first sang with Roger Waters, the clouds above them parted and a giant rainbow stretched across the sky. Literally. Now the roles are reversed, and Waters is ...

Last Saturday, an old song compelled me to sing with gusto. I’m not usually much of a singer. I enjoy listening and watching as others sing. Sometimes I’ll join in on a familiar chorus, but mostly I ...