Alright, so I've been on a big Nirvana kick lately. This has lead me to check out some of the artists that influenced Kurt, in particular, Lead Belly. I've checked out a few songs, so I was wondering, where should I go from here? I know absolutely nothing about "folk" music, if that's even the term I'm looking for, here.

I'm hoping you guys (WMD, I think I'm looking your direction here.) can help me out. I'm looking to kind of expand my horizions and gain an appreciation for this kind of music.

Was leadbelly folk or blues?

Maybe punch leadbelly into amazon.com or something and if he appears on any compilation albums, check out the other artists that appear on those CDs?

I'm on record as NOT being a Nirvana fan, so I find it a little comical if Point Blank Cobain believed that his music was connected to Leadbelly. I remember a lot of artists in the late 80's/early 90's would try to prop up their music by saying it was influenced by Howlin' Wolf, Robert Johnson or other old blues artists. Performers wanted critics and fans to sit back and say "ooh! He said (name of artist)! I never expected that! He's eclectic!"

I think its comical because all "rock" essentially grew out of blues and folk. So it's like a high school football coach saying he's a descendant of George Halas. Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) was big on his love for old blues stuff... so I think a closer influence on Nirvana would be Zeppelin's version of "Gallows Pole" (which was re-worked from a Leadbelly song).

But anyways...for Leadbelly's bluesy stuff: maybe check out Muddy Waters, Willie Brown, Howlin' Wolf or Robert Johnson. For his folks stuff: I'm not as familiar, but maybe Woody Guthrie. Guthrie's work seemed to have a big influence on Bob Dylan, so maybe check out some of his older stuff as well.

Where's WMD when we need him?!

I don't know if he ever said he was influenced by leadbelly although I do rmember him saying he was a fan. You can bea fan of someone and not claim them as an influence. For example, The Cardigans (who did "lovefool" but I'm not sure if they had any other hits) have said they're fans of Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath. However, you would never connect them through their music. If you're not a fan of Nirvana, that's fine. And of course, if there is a quote somewhere of Kurt saying he thought his music was influenced by leadbelly--well, Lord knows my mouth is big enough to hold both feet. ^_^

Well, during their unplugged performance, before their rendition of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" he introduces the song as "this by my faveorite performer". And there are a couple of demos on their box set of old Leadbelly songs that they did (Ain't It A Shame is tops.), so I'm inclined to believe he actually was a Leadbelly fan.

Thanks for the reccomendations. I was considering Dylan, but I'm not all that familiar with him either, so I wasn't sure if that was a good way to go.

Robert Johnson is amazing. Guthrie and Dylan are awesome as well. If you just want songs, check out Johnny Cash's work with Rick Rubin. He covered a lot of folk songs, and you can trace it back from there.

I know Kurt was a fan--just not sure if he would have claimed his music was influenced by him or not, that's all.

Leadbelly would be considered blues. It may not sound like your typical 12 bar blues, but that's because he made music before the formula was invented. I wouldn't consider myself a huge fan of archaic blues in general, but it is certainly worth studying. If you don't know much about Leadbelly himself, you should read up on him. Crazy story. He was convicted of murder among many other things, so I can see that side attracting Cobain more than the music itself. As far as weather or not Nirvana should be linked to blues, I'd agree with EvE in that I don't see the link. However, always cool to try to see how someone came to their sound whether it's obvious or not.
Leadbelly's contemporaries would have been Robert Johnson and John Lee Hooker. Johnson's early recordings are so primal and raw, that I find them very exciting to listen to. He was also very inventive with his guitar playing. Not always pleasant to the ear, but you gotta respect the creativity.
As far as folk music that may have tied to cobain, I would go with Dylan's Hwy 61 album. Now that's a rebel record right there. He was basically willing to sacrifice his career to put that record out. You should also watch the Martin Scorsese documentary on Dylan, "No Direction Home". There is some unreal footage there, and I came out with a whole new respect for Dylan after seeing that.

Of course, for other artists that Nirvana liked ... they did do a cover of "Do You Love Me". Heh.

Thanks guys, I'll check out Highway 61 for sure, and I'm going to try to find some old blues/folk compilations.

I also remember Kurt counting Neil Diamond as an influence. Go figure.

I remember him saying he thought their sound was like "the Bay City Rollers being molested by Black Flag".

Hey LFV, if you want some more helping finding folk music, go to Barnes and Noble or your local well stocked bookstore and pick up a copy of "No Depression" magazine. Or Check it out online

EDIT: Also check out Dirty Linen, or Rootsworld.com