East Coast Piedmont Blues

Full name: Lesley Riddle

Nickname: "Esley"

Born: June 13, 1905, Burnsville, NC
Died: July 13, 1980, NC

Instrument(s): guitar (and vocals), piano, mandolin

Biographical Sketch

Lesley Riddle is considered by many to be one of the biggest contributors to country music as we know it today. Born on June 13, 1905, in Burnsville, North Carolina, Riddle received little education as a child and pursued manual labor as a career. One of his first jobs was at a cement plant, where an accident cost him his right leg at the knee. During his recovery period, Riddle focused his attention on learning to play the guitar. He developed his own unique picking technique and slide style. Throughout the 1920s, Riddle played and sang with small string bands at churches and neighborhood gatherings. In Kingsport, Tennessee in 1928, Riddle met A.P. Carter, founding member of the Carter Family country band. Carter learned the song "Cannonball" from Riddle, and Riddle began accompanying Carter on his "song-collecting" trips throughout the Appalachian region. Carter would write down lyrics he liked, and it was Riddle's job to remember the music. Maybelle Carter, A.P.'s wife and guitarist for the band, is noted as having learned much in the way of guitar technique from Mr. Riddle.

Like many blues men of his day, Riddle relocated to Rochester, New York, in 1942. He sold his guitar in 1945, either because he couldn't find anyone to make music with, or simply didn't want to anymore. It was there that Mike Seeger hunted Riddle down to record him in 1963. Seeger and the New Lost City Ramblers played a concert with Maybelle Carter, who played several songs she had learned from Lesley Riddle. Seeger asked her who she had learned the songs from, and upon finding out, Seeger searched Riddle down and persuaded him to continue playing. Between 1965 and 1978, Seeger made several recordings with Riddle on the guitar and piano. In 1993, Rounder Records released these recordings as well as recordings of Riddle playing with the Carter Family. Riddle died on July 13, 1980. He was a greatly talented musician who made an undeniable impact on the sound of the Carter Family, thus influencing country music as a whole. Unfortunately Riddle never received the recognition he deserved, and the only recording of his music available today is the album Step by Step.

Books

Bastin, Bruce. Red River Blues: The Blues Tradition in the Southeast. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986. pp. 256. 258, 303.

Davis, Francis. The History of the Blues. New York: Hyperion, 1995. 39-41.

Malone, Bill C. Country Music, U.S.A. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002, p. 67.

Wolfe, Charles K. Classic Country: Legends of Country Music. Routledge, 2001, p. 6.

Zwonitzer, Mark. Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone. Simon and Shuster, 2002, pp. 128-33, 136-38, 146, 171, 175, 184, 240, 241.

Articles

Hay, Fred J. "Black Musicians of Appalachia: An Introduction to Affrilachian Music." Black Music Research Journal 23 (Spring/Fall 2003): 1-19.

James, Steve. "Lesley Riddle, Step by Step." Acoustic Guitar Magazine 22 (Jan-Feb 1994)

Lightfoot, William E. "The Three Doc(k)s: White Blues in Appalachia." Black Music Research Journal 23 (Spring/Fall 2003): 167-93.

Recordings on CD

Riddle, Lesley. Step by Step: Lesley Riddle meets the Carter Family Cambridge, Mass.: Rounder, 1993.

Web Sites

American Experience -The Carter Family: Will the Circle Be Unbroken. PBS Accompanying Website and Teachers' Guide. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carterfamily/>

Fortunecity, Fortunecity's Web Design Plans. 1997-2005 Fortunecity.com Inc. 9-21-05. <http://www.fortunecity.com>

Piedmont Blues. Copyright 2004. Bliggins and Goines. 10-13-05. <http://www.bligginsandgoines.com>.

The Slemp Foundation Education Endowment. "Portraits from our Past: Famous Musicians Southwest Virginia Music Lesley Riddle." Oct. 19, 2005. Southwest Virginia Museum. 10-13-2005. <http://www.swvamuseum.org/lesleyriddle.html>.

Tennessee Historical Society. The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. Online Copyright 2002. The University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, TN. 10-13-05. <http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/>.

Winship, David. The African American Music Tradition in Country Music. 2000-2003. Birthplace of Country Music Alliance. 9-21-05. <http://www.birthplaceofcountrymusic.org>.

DVDs

American Experience - The Carter Family: Will the Circle be Unbroken (DVD) PBS Home Video ; distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment, 2005.

Special Collections

Seeger, Mike. "Mike Seeger Collection Inventory (#20009)." Manuscripts Department, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, November 2002. <http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/htm/20009.html>

Liner Notes

O'Connell, Barry. Program Notes accompanying Step by Step: Lesley Riddle meets the Carter Family. A biographical essay with notes to his recordings. Cambridge, Mass.: Rounder, 1993.

Other

A seventy-page essay, including lyrics and full annotations for all songs on the Step by Step compact disc can be obtained by sending $3 to:

Barry O'Connell/Riddle
Box 2234 Amherst College
Amherst, MA 01002

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Last updated 26 October 2005.