The life of Blues and folk singer Huddie Leadbetter, nicknamed Leadbelly is recounted. Covering the good times and bad from his 20s to 40s. Much of that time was spent on chain gangs in the south. Even in prison he became well known for the songs he had composed and sung during and before the time he spent there.
Roger E. Mosley
as Huddie Ledbetter
Paul Benjamin
as Wes Ledbetter
Madge Sinclair
as Miss Eula
Alan Manson
as Prison Chief Guard
Albert Hall
as Dicklicker
Art Evans
as Blind Lemon Jefferson
James Brodhead
as John Lomax
John Henry Faulk
as Gov. Pat Neff
Lynn Hamilton
as Sally Ledbetter
Ernie Hudson
as Archie
William Wintersole
as Sheriff Gibbons
Rhetta Greene
as Lethe
