Diddy Wah Diddy, in a lot of old blues songs, was sort of like the Big Rock Candy Mountain: a mythical place where life is easy and good things are freely available to everyone. There are several old blues songs that mention the place- most notably “Diddy Wah Diddy” written and recorded by Bo Diddley. That one has been covered many times, by Captain Beefheart among others.
I did a lot of work on the Wikipedia article, including shooting the picture on the article, and I can assure you - there is almost no reliable information on the man. The earliest sighting I found was in a 1973 Canadian Jazz magazine article called Code, in a profile of John Hammond that mentioned him:
Sitting next to Hammond was a young white musician named Leon Redbone from Philadelphia, but currently residing in Toronto.
My own personal theory was that an 18 year old musician moved from Philadelphia moved to Toronto to avoid the draft and invented the Leon Redbone character as cover. By the time he was no longer in danger of imprisonment, the persona was well established. That would put his age somewhere between 60 and 70.
I shot him in concert, and I can tell you, the man never, ever break character. A friend of mine was working in the microphone department of the Kansas City Public Library and Redbone came in to research old newspapers before the show I shot, and he never broke character with him either.
SNL producer Lorne Michaels is from Toronto, which is where Redbone started performing in the early 70s. Michaels is probably more responsible than anyone for Redbone’s popularity. Dylan talked about him, Rolling Stone wrote about him, but Michaels put him in front of millions of kids like us who may have liked rock, but were also open to Redbone’s hip look back at the music of our grandparents.
I don’t get the impression that Redbone has actively participated in any filming of his live performances. He has appeared on broadcast shows like The Tonight Show and SNL, but I don’t know of any professionally produced videos of a full live show. Just camera phone videos on Youtube, which are necessarily rather recent. Footage from his first few decades is rare and mostly the brief TV appearances I mentioned.
Redbone’s official site has apromo for a documentary about him that has been in development for several years. This usually means that they can’t raise the money and it will never be made, but maybe with his retirement there will be enough interest to resume the production. It would be great if they can get him to participate before it’s too late, if his health really is dodgy. How about a Kickstarter campaign?
I’ve heard the same from several of his backing musicians: “He’s the same backstage as he is on stage.”
Maybe, just maybe, it’s not a character. Maybe that’s the real him. Or else he’s [del]one of[/del] the greatest performance artist[del]s[/del] of all time. An entire adult life as a work of art. Andy Kaufman really stretched the boundaries, but Redbone did it for 40 years.
Thanks for your work on the Wiki article. I hope that his true history is not as ignoble as your theory, but I suspect we’ll never really know.
BTW, did autocorrect perhaps change microfilm to microphone? If not, I’ll have to visit the microphone department next time I’m in KC. Can I borrow a Shure or a Neumann?
I just discovered that the production company working on the film about Leon belongs to an old friend of mine. I’ve just e-mailed him to ask about its status. I’ll report back anything I hear.
Thank you. I’m especially proud of the picture. Whenever you talk to him, you find yourself adopting an old-time manner of speaking. I asked him “Sir, may I take your portrait?” and he turned and I got the shot.
I have no idea if he moved to Canada to avoid the draft, just that it fits with the time. Short of inspecting the man’s passport or tax return, we’ll never know.
Yes, microfilm rather than microphone. Redbone was looking through ads for vaudeville theaters in 1920s newspapers to establish when a particular performer played Kansas City.
My friend at Riddle Films in Toronto, which has been developing the film about Leon, says this about the project’s status:
Update: my friend the filmmaker says that Bravo! in Canada has greenlighted a film about Leon Redbone’s early career in Canada that he expects to deliver to the network next spring. He hints that he may expand the scope beyond Canada. I don’t know when it will air, or if it will be available outside Canada. I’ll try to find out and report back any further news.
Sweet! I’d pay to see that!
Saw him in 1977 in Angels Camp Ca. (Jumping Frog of Calaveras County) Probably between 50-60 people in the basement of the Angels Theatre. Brought a Tuba player with him, arrived in a Cord Roadster in a white tux. Halfway through the show he put down the guitar picks a up a Polaroid camera and starts taking pictures of the audience; “In case there are no witnesses” I miss those days.
I saw him twice, once in New Haven in the late 1970s and once in New York City in the early 80s, both in small venues. Great music, great shows. He did the Polaroid thing then, too. Jonathan Dorn was his tuba player, at least from SNL through the early 1980s, and presumably for much longer, but I wouldn’t know.
The filmmaker says he will post here soon with more details about the project. I asked him a number of questions, like how long it will be, whether it will be broadcast outside Canada, whether Leon is directly involved, etc. I’m looking forward to hearing more about it.
In the meantime, he’s also made a documentary about guitars that many Doper guitar enthusiasts might find interesting: The Group of Seven Guitar Project. It’s had limited theatrical runs, and perhaps when he posts here he can tell us more about how we can see it.
I have heard of the Group of Seven guitar project through some online chit chat I was part of. The Canadian luthiers features are some of the best around so should be interesting.
I remember **Le Ministre **has posted something about a specially-made Canadian guitar, but I think that was a different project.
Hey all,
I am the friend of commasense and one of the filmmakers working on the Leon Redbone documentary. The update is quite simple. We have been working away on trying to finance a long form doc for many years - probably about 6 - but have been unsuccessful. We know that Leon is such a compelling character and brilliant musician and there is a great film to be made. And we would like to be the ones to make it! Beryl is 100% on board and we have collected great footage - some original performances, some archival and lots of interviews.
But that’s really as far as we’ve gotten.
Recently, we received funding from Bravo!FACTUAL in Canada to make a 15 minute film about Leon. Specifically about his time in Toronto performing at Mariposa and in Yorkville. This film should be finished by Feb and will include archival material, interviews and provably some animation.
Our hope is to use this short film to parlay it into the longer documentary we would love to make. We have done this a number of times with other projects.
So that’s it.
Thanks for your interest in the project. Leon is amazing and it’s ultimately about keeping his legacy and the music alive.
Best,
L.
I am 70, but I first learned about Leon Redbone when I was in my 20’s. I was a DJ at a country music station and we had a room where we kept all the records that record companies sent us that were not appropriate for our music format. They were basically up for grabs. I saw “On the Tracks” and reading the back I thought it might be worth a listen. I dropped a needle (in a good way!) on a couple cuts and I had instantly found a new favorite album to put on my shelf alongside all my other Beatles, Rolling Stones, Marvin Gaye, etc. albums.
Later, my wife and I had the opportunity to see him many times in Savannah or Hilton Head. Always in nice little intimate clubs. Great performer. The first time we saw him was at the Night Flight in Savannah and we were right up front at the stage. It was still hard to see his face clearly because of the sunglasses, hat and thick mustache, but I was amazed to see that he was a young guy, about our own age at the time. I’d always assumed he was some old fart!
I have been playing guitar since I was about 15, and I my favorite type of music is Leon Redbone-inspired.
A couple years ago I learned he was not well. I went to his website and dropped him a note. I don’t know if he ever got it, but I would suggest all fans of his do the same. (I once passed up an opportunity to send a fan note to another of my heroes, Stan Laurel, when he was ill. I will not pass another chance again.)
Anyway, I know this is an older thread, but I just came across it and had to express my love for Leon’s artistry.
Mr. Redbone retired a few years ago but he’s still on the planet and it’s still cool to like him and his music because both are and always will be cool: Leon Redbone totally fucking rocks!
In fact, I did not know that!
You lucky old fart…two of my favorites at one show!
Too few people know of either of these GREAT musicians.
tsfr
If you don’t know by now, Lady, don’t mess with it!
When I went off to college, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in the early 1980s, I discovered Rocky Rococo, a local pizza chain. Their mascot, with his Panama hat, white suit, and dark glasses. reminded me a lot of Redbone’s look (I, too, had been introduced to Redbone through his 1970s SNL appearances). As the restaurant started at about the same time that Leon Redbone became popular, I’ve always wondered if they borrowed his look.
