12. In prison, he got the nickname ‘Leadbelly’, but no one quite knows why
He walked into Imperial Farm as Huddie or Walter, and emerged as Leadbelly. That is all we know for certain about the nickname. Some say that it was simply a play on the surname, Ledbetter, which sort of sounds like ‘Leadbelly’. Another prosaic suggestion is it was a tribute to Leadbelly’s incredible strength, which enabled him to impress in the prison’s manual labour programme. More plausibly, Huddie’s nickname has also been attributed to his toughness, for he certainly made a big splash amongst his fellow inmates (see number 11 on this list). But why the reference to his belly, specifically?
Two other theories are much more logical. One is that he could drink the most unpalatable and life-threatening moonshine brewed up on the sly in prison bathtubs at Imperial Farm without harming himself, as if his belly were indeed made of lead. The other legend says that he was once shot in the stomach with a shotgun, and lived to tell the tale. Hence, he had a belly full of lead. We will never know for certain, but this legend-spinning and folklore would delight the man himself, many of whose songs were reinterpreted folk-standards and tales.
