Dan Zanes has never been much for boundaries. The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter first made his mark in the 1980s with the Boston rock band The Del Fuegos before pivoting to children’s and family music — though that label doesn’t quite capture the spirit of what he does. His records and shows have always blurred the line between education and liberation, between history and community. His latest project, Lead Belly, Baby!, does all of that at once.
“Lead Belly is my main man,” he said. “He’s the reason I started playing guitar. I was a kid in New Hampshire, and the librarian told me to check out this record. I saw him on the cover — dignified, bowtie, twelve-string guitar — and I felt like he was looking right at me. He’d been gone for decades, but his music just kept getting stronger.”
For Zanes, the appeal wasn’t just musical. It was moral. “A lot of people don’t realize Lead Belly played for children all the time,” he said. “He didn’t always play children’s songs — he played songs he thought were important for children to hear.” Zanes calls him “the father of modern family music,” a man who used folk songs to bridge communities and generations.
That vision guided Lead Belly, Baby!, which reinterprets the folk legend’s catalog with a cast of guests ranging from Chuck D to Valerie June and Billy Bragg. “I wanted to make something that felt like right now,” Zanes explained. “Lead Belly was a modern musician. His music was progressive and full of wordplay. If he were alive today, he’d be listening to hip-hop.”
It took Zanes three tries to get the record right. “I kept starting it like a typical Dan Zanes & Friends record,” he said, “but the songs kept telling me, no — this needs layers of percussion, it needs hip-hop, it needs the sound of New York.” The final version hums with global rhythm and cultural context, honoring Lead Belly’s roots while imagining his music in a 21st-century frame.
The guests came ready. “Chuck D’s a historian — he knows the roots and branches of American Black music,” Zanes said. “He didn’t need convincing. And Billy Bragg was perfect. He just wrote a book about skiffle, which was built on Lead Belly’s music. Without Lead Belly, we might not have The Beatles.”
Valerie June, another standout on the record, brought a soulful warmth to their duet. “She came in ready to honor the man and his music,” Zanes said. “We met years ago at the Kennedy Center for Lead Belly’s 125th birthday tribute — Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were there too. You could actually see their collaboration starting that night.”
Beyond the album, Zanes is also redefining the live experience with what he calls “sensory-friendly” shows — concerts designed to be accessible for all audiences, including children on the autism spectrum. “It just means the sound isn’t overwhelming, the lights aren’t pitch black, and all behaviors are welcome,” he explained. “If a kid wants to stand, move, or talk to the stage, that’s okay. We’re saying: come as you are. Everybody’s welcome.”
He compares it to old Shakespeare performances at the Globe Theatre: “It was rowdy. People were drinking, laughing, shouting back to the stage. In a way, that was sensory-friendly too. We’ve just gotten used to sitting quietly in the dark, but music should be about connection.”
That communal spirit will be in full force when Zanes returns to Louisville. He’ll perform with his wife and musical partner, Claudia Zanes, in what he calls the best band he’s ever had. “I got married last month, and I make music with my wife now,” he said. “The music we’re making together is better than anything I’ve ever done.”
Between honoring Lead Belly’s legacy and creating new traditions of inclusion, Dan Zanes is still doing what great folk musicians do best — turning songs into spaces where everyone belongs.
Listen to the interview above and then check out "Take This Hammer" below!
