Lead Belly Estate Sues Publishers Over Copyright of 49 Songs

Estate of Blues pioneer Lead Belly sues group of publishers in copyright dispute over 49 compositions

May 28, 2026 By Murray Stassen

Lead Belly was a pioneer of folk and blues, penning/popularizing standards including Goodnight Irene , Midnight Special , and Where Did You Sleep Last Night that have been covered by artists from Johnny Cash to Nirvana .

Now, over 76 years after his death, the trust established for his estate has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against The Richmond Organization and nine affiliated publishing companies.

The complaint, filed on Monday (May 18) in the US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, Nashville Division , accuses the defendants of continuing to exploit 49 Lead Belly compositions after the estate served formal copyright termination notices.

The lawsuit also alleges that an audit of the defendants’ books uncovered more than $289,000 in wrongfully retained royalties. The filing, obtained by MBW , can be read in full here.

The plaintiff, Terika Dean , is the appointed Trustee of The Huddie Ledbetter Family Trust, according to the complaint.

The defendants are The Richmond Organization, Inc. , Cromwell Music, Inc. , Essex Music, Inc. , Folkways Music Publishers, Inc. , Hollis Music, Inc. , Ludlow Music, Inc. , Melody Trails, Inc. , Songways Services, Inc. , World Wide Publishing Co. , and Worldwide Publishing, Inc.

The Richmond Organization,  commonly known as TRO, is a long-established independent music publishing company. Its catalog includes compositions by Woody Guthrie , Pete Seeger , and Pete Townshend , among many others.

According to the complaint, on or about March 18, 2013 , August 18, 2014 , and August 20, 2014 , Queen Ollie Robinson, a resident of Brentwood, Tennessee, the niece of Martha Ledbetter, Lead Belly’s widow, and the administratrix of his estate, served Notices of Termination on the defendants for 49 compositions.

The terminations were filed pursuant to Section 304 of the Copyright Act , which allows the heirs of a songwriter to reclaim copyrights that were assigned to publishers before 1978 .

An exhibit attached to the filing, which you can see here, lists the 49 compositions at issue, which include Midnight Special , Pick a Bale o’ Cotton , Bring Me Li’l Water, Silvy , Frankie and Albert , Gray Goose , and C.C. Rider , among others.

The original copyrights for the compositions were registered on November 24, 1936 , with effective termination dates falling on April 1, 2015 and August 1, 2016 .

The complaint states that the termination notices “serve to terminate the grants of rights made to Defendants by Martha Ledbetter, now deceased, the widow of Huddie Ledbetter, who was deceased at the time of the grants.”

It adds that the terminations “were effected by the unanimous action of the survivors of Martha Ledbetter and they became effective, as a matter of law.”

The lawsuit claims that, despite those terminations, an audit of the defendants’ records revealed that they “underpaid the Plaintiff royalties owed for exploitations of the Compositions.”

The filing highlights one composition, Goodnight Irene, as an example.

The complaint states that “in an agreement between Martha Ledbetter and Defendant Folkways Music Publishers, Inc. dated September 6, 1950, Defendant agreed to pay ‘one-third (1/3) of all monies earned…accrued from royalties due us [Folkways] on this song.'”

“In breach of this obligation,” the filing reads, “Defendant has paid only a fraction of those sums to Plaintiff.”

The audit also allegedly determined that the defendants “have been applying excessive deductions from royalties paid to Plaintiff.”

According to the complaint, the defendants claim they are “entitled to reduce royalties otherwise payable because, with respect to foreign income, they allegedly incurred ‘fees’ of collection incurred by its foreign affiliates, even though those foreign affiliates operated as a single economic enterprise and are affiliates of Defendants.”

The audit is also alleged to have found that “Defendants retained domestic income, which should have been paid to Plaintiff, with respect to earnings for the Compositions which had been terminated.”

It also allegedly concluded that the defendants “wrongfully retained United States-generated performance income for Compositions which had been terminated, and the earnings also should have been paid to Plaintiff.”

In total, the complaint states that the audit concluded that “even if Defendants had the right to exploit the Compositions, in excess of $289,000 has been wrongfully retained by Defendants, which is due and owing Plaintiff, after demand.”

The lawsuit seeks a judgment that the defendants “have willfully infringed Plaintiff’s copyrights in the Compositions,” statutory damages and attorney’s fees under 17 U.S.C. § 505 , and recovery of damages in excess of $289,000 .

The plaintiff has also demanded a jury trial.

Lead Belly,  born Huddie William Ledbetter in 1889,  died on December 6, 1949 .

Goodnight Irene , recorded by The Weavers in 1950, one year after his death, reached No. 1 on the Billboard chart. Lead Belly was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 (some sources say 1889).

The case arrives at a moment when copyright termination rights are the subject of increasing legal activity across the music industry.

In January, a US Court of Appeals upheld a landmark ruling that songwriters can use US copyright law to reclaim their compositions worldwide, not just domestically, a decision that may end up being appealed to the Supreme Court .

In July 2024 , the US Copyright Office issued a rule clarifying that songwriters are entitled to collect mechanical royalties from streaming platforms after invoking their termination rights.

The plaintiff is represented by Jay S. Bowen and Jacob T. Clabo of Nashville-based Griffin Bowen, PLLC . Music Business Worldwide

_Originally reported by [Music Business Worldwide](https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/estate-of-blues-pioneer-lead-belly-sues-group-of-publishers-over-alleged-unpaid-royalties-on-copyrights-to-49-compositions/)._