Huddie Ledbetter, better known as Lead Belly, was a folk-blues giant whose music and persona transformed American culture. He sang what he lived (poverty, prison, violence) in songs like ‘Gallow’s Pole’ and ‘Black Betty,’ but
Reverend Gary Davis (1896-1972), guitar virtuoso and folk-blues giant, moved from Durham, N.C. to NYC, where he struggled for years as a blind street singer and storefront preacher. An instructor at Brownie McGhee’s Harlem-based folk music school, Davis served as a mentor to a generation of acoustic players, including Happy Traum, Eric von Schmidt, Patrick Sky, David Bromberg and Bob Dylan.