The Lead Belly Songbook - Lead Belly, no stranger to the blues

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Red River

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This song is one of Tiny Robinson's favorites. Tiny is Lead Belly's niece. She told me a wonderful story about a guitar player from Scotland named Rory McCutcheon. Tiny often hosted jams and musician parties during her years of living in New York. When Rory attended one, he came dressed in a very formal early 1950's style of British dress - bowler hat, woolen suit and vest and brought no instrument. After listening to the other players for a few hours - players like Brownie McGhee, Josh White, Burl Ives, Rev. Gary Davis were regulars at her house - a few of them goaded Rory into playing. After he protested that he brought no guitar, he was assured that he could use any instrument there. He picked up the guitar and started to play, breaking into a version of Red River. The other players were stunned. When he finished, you could have heard a pin drop, no one said anything for a few moments. Tiny said that no one had ever heard Lead Belly's own style so expertly recreated.

She encouraged Rory to perform Lead Belly's music, even to helping him get some time on TV and radio. He became good friends with Tiny, and befriended other musicians who came to England, some of whom were very surprised to be greeted by a car and chauffeur at the station and taken to Rory's mansion. Rory was a knighted aristocrat. Rory passed away in the early 1960's.