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Artist
Lesley Riddle
12+ albums
bluesAllamericanacountry
about
Lesley "Esley" Riddle (June 13, 1905 - July 13, 1980) was an African-American musician whose influence on the Carter Family helped to shape country music. Riddle was born in Burnsville, North Carolina. He grew up with his paternal grandparents near Kingsport, Tennessee, not far from the Virginia border. While working as a young man at a cement plant, he tripped on an auger. The resulting injury entailed the amputation of his right leg at the knee. While he recovered, he took up the guitar, developing an innovative picking and slide technique. Soon, he was collaborating with other musicians from Sullivan and Scott counties, including Steve Tarter, Harry Gay, Brownie McGhee and John Henry Lyons. One time, he met Blind Lemon Jefferson at Tarter's house. In 1928, Riddle met A.P. Carter, who had just founded the Carter Family country band. Riddle began to divide his time between Kingsport and the Carter home in Maces Spring, Virginia. Riddle and Carter embarked on song-collecting trips around the region: Riddle would act as a "human tape recorder," memorizing the melody while Carter gathered lyrics. The Carter Family went on to record a number of songs that Riddle either composed or transmitted, including "Cannonball Blues," "Hello Stranger," "I Know What It Means To Be Lonesome," "Let the Church Roll On," "Bear Creek Blues," "March Winds Goin'," "Blow My Blues Away" and "Lonesome For You." Riddle's guitar technique made an impression on Maybelle Carter.[1] In 1937 Riddle got marr
top songs
albums
Classic Mountain Songs from Smithsonian Folkways
Classic Appalachian Blues from Smithsonian Folkways
Step By Step - Lesley Riddle Meets the Carter Family: Blues, Country, and Sacred Songs
Step By Step
Step By Step -- Lesley Riddle Meets the Carter Family: Blues, Country, and Sacred Songs
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Close to Home: Old Time Music from Mike Seeger's Collection, 1952-1967
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Classic Appalachian Blues
Classic Mountain Songs
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Appalachian Blues
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Classic Mountain Songs (From Smithsonian Folkways)
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Hills Of Home: 25 Years Of Folk Music On Rounder Records
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Classic Mountain Songs [Smithsonian Folkways]