LEDBELLY — Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order Volume 7 · 1947–1949 | DOCD-5640 RM (1999) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The six earlier volumes in Austrian reissue label Document Records' unlicensed series of albums featuring Leadbelly's commercial recordings are given the date range of 1939 to 1947. But this seventh volume runs up to the year of Leadbelly's death, 1949, after having started with a couple of airchecks from a broadcast of the This Is Jazz radio series from June 14, 1947 ("Green Corn" and "John Henry"). These tracks are followed by four recorded for the Library of Congress, and the rest of the album consists of more radio broadcasts or concert performances that were issued on LPs by Folkways Records or, in the case of the last two, "Old Ship of Zion" and "I Will Be So Glad When I Get Home," from Playboy Records' album of one of the singer's last concert at the University of Texas on June 15, 1949. This is not really a "complete" account of Leadbelly's last couple of years of recording, since it deliberately excludes the material from the Folkways albums of Leadbelly's Last Sessions, because Smithsonian Folkways has reissued those tracks on CD recently. Rather, this is a kind of addendum of odds and ends. Still, it does present mature performances of some of Leadbelly's better-known songs, including "Pick a Bale of Cotton," "Go Down, Old Hannah," "Take This Hammer," and "Good Morning Blues." Of course, by the time of the University of Texas show, he was suffering from the effects of Lou Gehrig's disease, which would kill him in December, and he was joined by his wife, Martha, on the two spirituals, apparently included here because they were left off a CD reissue of the album by Magnum in Europe. Surface noise is audible on many tracks, but the overall sound is good. William Ruhlmann
Tracklist :
1.    Leadbelly–    Green Corn ("This Is Jazz" Broadcast)    0:54
2.    Leadbelly–    John Henry ("This Is Jazz" Broadcast)    2:58
3.    Leadbelly–    Tell Me Baby What Was Wrong With You    3:15
4.    Leadbelly–    Noted Rider    3:28
5.    Leadbelly–    Take A Whiff On Me    3:24
6.    Leadbelly–    Ox Driving Moan    2:39
7.    Leadbelly–    John Henry 3:09
Guitar [2nd], Speech – Brownie McGhee
Harmonica – Sonny Terry
8.    Leadbelly–    Pick A Bale Of Cotton 1:23
Guitar [2nd], Speech – Brownie McGhee
Harmonica – Sonny Terry
9.    Leadbelly–    Go Down, Old Hannah    2:04
10.    Leadbelly–    Ain't Going Down To The Well No More    1:05
11.    Leadbelly–    Shout On (Honey I'm All Out And Down) 2:09
Vocals – Sonny Terry
12.    Leadbelly–    It Was Soon One Morning    1:12
13.    Leadbelly–    Whoa Back Buck 2:09
Vocals – Sonny Terry
14.    Leadbelly–    Birmingham Jail (Down In The Valley)    1:48
15.    Leadbelly–    Take This Hammer    2:15
16.    Leadbelly–    It Was Early One Mornin' (Jail House Blues)    2:23
17.    Leadbelly–    Going Back To Mary (If I Had You Governor/Governor Pat Neff)    3:39
18.    Leadbelly–    Come And Sit Down Beside Me    1:02
19.    Leadbelly–    Ha, Ha This A Way    1:32
20.    Leadbelly–    You Can't Lose Me, Charlie    1:32
21.    Leadbelly–    Rooster Crows At Midnight (Christmas Day)    1:19
22.    Leadbelly–    Skip To My Lou    1:29
23.    Leadbelly–    Parting Song (When You Smile-o)    2:50
24.    Leadbelly–    Good Morning Blues (WNYC Jazz-Festival)    2:53
25.    Leadbelly–    Ain't Gonna Let You Worry My Life No More (WNYC Jazz-Festival)    2:16
26.    Leadbelly–    Pretty Papa (WNYC Jazz-Festival)    2:36
27.    Leadbelly With Martha Ledbetter–    Old Ship Of Zion (Live)    1:57
28.    Leadbelly With Martha Ledbetter–    I Will Be So Glad When I Get Home    2:07
Credits : 
Compiled By, Producer – Johnny Parth
Liner Notes – Ken Romanowski
Remastered By – Gerhard Wessely
Vocals – Leadbelly (tracks: 5, 10, 12), Martha Ledbetter (tracks: 27, 28)
Vocals, Guitar – Leadbelly (tracks: 1 to 4, 6 to 9, 11, 13 to 28)