Leon Redbone Caricature

Leon Redbone Caricature illustrated backstage in 1976, age 27 referenced from a Joe Sia photo.

Redbone was an American singer-songwriter and musician specializing in jazz, blues, and old classics.
Recognized by his various hats, dark sunglasses, and black tie, Redbone favored material from the Tin Pan Alley era, circa 1890 to 1910.

In concert Redbone often employed comedy and demonstrated his skill in guitar playing. Recurrent gags involved the influence of alcohol and claiming to have written works originating well before he was born.

He met Bob Dylan at the Mariposa Folk Festival in 1972. Dylan was so impressed by Redbone’s performance that he mentioned it in a Rolling Stone interview, leading that magazine to do a feature article on Redbone a year before he had a recording contract. The article described his performances as “so authentic you can hear the surface noise of an old 78 rpm record.” Dylan said that if he had ever started a label, he would have signed Redbone.
His first album, “On the Track”, was released by Warner Bros. Records in 1975.

Redbone’s taste in music included Emmett Miller, Blind Blake, Paganini, Caruso, Gene Austin, John McCormack, Moran and Mack, Cliff Edwards, Jelly Roll Morton, Ted Lewis, Mustafa the Castrato, the Hungarian singer Imre Laszlo, Jimmie Rodgers, Mongolian throat singers, W. C. Fields, Laurel and Hardy … and early Bing Crosby.

He sang the theme to the 1980s television series Mr. Belvedere and released eighteen albums.

Redbone died on May 30, 2019, following complications from dementia at age 69.

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