Trumpeter Bunk Johnson, blues singer Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter, and Alcide Pavageau perform at Stuyvesant Casino in New York City, circa June 1946. Johnson suffered a stroke in 1948, and died the following year. Leadbelly wrote the political anthem “Bourgeois Blues,” and popularized the tunes “Goodnight, Irene,” “Midnight Special,” and “Boll Weevil.”

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