{"id":486469,"date":"2019-05-30T10:54:41","date_gmt":"2019-05-30T16:54:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=842205"},"modified":"2019-05-30T10:54:41","modified_gmt":"2019-05-30T16:54:41","slug":"leon-redbone-cult-singer-who-helped-revive-ragtime-dead-at-69","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/music-news\/leon-redbone-cult-singer-who-helped-revive-ragtime-dead-at-69\/","title":{"rendered":"Leon Redbone, Cult Singer Who Helped Revive Ragtime, Dead at 69"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Leon Redbone, the singer who built a career out of performing ragtime, vaudeville and American standards with a sly wink and an unmistakable, nasally voice, died Thursday. He was 69.<\/p>\n

A statement on Redbone\u2019s website<\/a> confirmed his death, though it did so with a sweet bit of humor, joking that he was actually 127 years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe departed our world with his guitar, his trusty companion Rover, and a simple tip of his hat,\u201d the statement read. \u201cHe\u2019s interested to see what Blind Blake, Emmett, and Jelly Roll have been up to in his absence, and has plans for a rousing sing along number with S\u00e1ri Barab\u00e1s. An eternity of pouring through texts in the Library of Ashurbanipal will be a welcome repose, perhaps followed by a shot or two of whiskey with Lee Morse, and some long overdue discussions with his favorite Uncle, Suppiluliuma I of the Hittites. To his fans, friends, and loving family who have already been missing him so in this realm he says, \u2018Oh behave yourselves. Thank you\u2026 and good evening everybody.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Often clad in a Panama hat and big, dark sunglasses, Redbone rose to prominence in the mid-Seventies, though he always had an air of mystery about him, famously refusing to answer questions about his age and background. He was reportedly born in Cyprus, but moved to Canada in the Sixties and began performing in Toronto nightclubs. He eventually hit the folk festival circuit, which is how he met Bob Dylan, who praised Redbone\u2019s enigmatic aura in a 1974 interview with Rolling Stone<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n