Lead Belly: A Life in Pictures
By Tyehimba Jess
224 pages; Steidl

Born in the segregated South in the 1880s, the legendary Huddie Ledbetter, better known as Lead Belly, served grueling sentences in Texas and Louisiana prisons—and survived to become one of the 20th century's most powerfully influential folk and blues musicians. Lead Belly: A Life in Pictures —featuring archival photos and intensely personal tributes by (among others) Tom Waits, Martin Scorsese, Pete Seeger, and Jack Kerouac—not only showcases the achievements of this unique virtuoso but sheds light on the history and culture of an entire era.