Editing Leon Redbone (section)

==Career==
While living in Canada in the late 1960s,<ref name=pugh/> Redbone began performing in public at Toronto area nightclubs and folk music festivals. 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,<ref name=DylanRS>{{cite magazine|last1=Fong-Torres|first1=Ben|author-link=Ben Fong-Torres|title=Knockin' on Bob Dylan's Door|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/knockin-on-dylans-door-19740214|date=14 February 1974|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=May 20, 2015|quote='Leon interests me,' he said. 'I've heard he's anywhere from 25 to 60, I've been this close'—Dylan held his hands out, a foot and a half apart—'and I can't tell, But you gotta see him. He does old Jimmie Rodgers, then turns around and does a Robert Johnson.' Redbone has surfaced at various folk festivals in the past years and is every bit the mystery that Dylan indicates.}}</ref> leading that magazine to do a feature article on Redbone a year before he had a recording contract.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Leon Redbone Biography|url=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=10600|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120727233432/http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=10600|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 27, 2012|magazine=All About Jazz|access-date=August 26, 2011}}</ref> The article described his performances as "so authentic you can hear the [[surface noise]] [of an old [[78 rpm]]]."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/2007/06/13/redbone_careful_to_preserve_the_mystery.html|title=Redbone careful to preserve the mystery|last=Quill|first=Greg|date=13 June 2007|website=thestar.com|language=en-ca|access-date=2019-05-31}}</ref> Dylan said that if he had ever started a label, he would have signed Redbone.<ref name=inquirer/> Redbone's first album, ''On the Track'', was released by [[Warner Bros. Records]] in 1975.<ref name=":0" />

He was introduced to a larger public as a semi-regular musical guest on [[NBC]]'s ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'', appearing twice in the first season.<ref name="Grow">{{cite magazine|last1=Grow|first1=Kory|title=Leon Redbone Retires, Plans Comp on Jack White's Label|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/leon-redbone-announces-retirement-new-third-man-compilation-20150519|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=October 2, 2016|date=May 19, 2015}}</ref><ref name=DaytonDailyNews>{{cite news|last=McGinn|first=Andrew|title=Leon Redbone Has Been Performing Timeless Tunes For Decades, But He's Still Got An Air Of Mystery—And That's The Way He Likes It.|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-20890195.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140610181554/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-20890195.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 10, 2014|access-date=September 15, 2012|newspaper=Dayton Daily News |date=October 16, 2009|quote=It's now impossible to envision Redbone back on 'SNL.'  His last appearance on the show was in 1983.}}</ref>  During the 1980s and '90s he was a frequent guest on ''[[The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson]]''. He was also a guest on ''[[A Prairie Home Companion]]''.<ref name=Highbeam_Telegraph-Herald>{{cite news|title=Leon Redbone to perform at Clarke; Guitarist will perform a mix of folk, jazz and ragtime music|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-11121750.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140610181558/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-11121750.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 10, 2014|access-date=September 15, 2012|newspaper=Telegraph – Herald (Dubuque)|date=March 4, 2004|quote=Throughout his career, Redbone has produced 11 albums and has been featured on Garrison Keillor's "Prairie Home Companion."}}</ref>

A self-taught musician, he [[playing by ear|played by ear]], sometimes changing the chords of established tunes, never rehearsing with a band, and not following [[set list]]s.<ref name=pugh/>  In an interview in the Winter 2017 edition (No. 177) of ''BING'' magazine, the publication of the International Club Crosby, clarinetist [[Dan Levinson]] recounted working with Redbone:

<blockquote>I toured with Redbone for 12 years.  We used to listen to early Crosby while we were on the road.   [Redbone's] taste in music was more eclectic than that of anyone I've ever known – it included [[Emmett Miller]], [[Blind Blake]], [[Paganini]], [[Enrico Caruso|Caruso]], [[Gene Austin]], [[John McCormack (tenor)|John McCormack]], [[Moran and Mack]], [[Cliff Edwards]], [[Jelly Roll Morton]], [[Ted Lewis (musician)|Ted Lewis]], [[Domenico Mustafà|Mustafa the Castrato]], the Hungarian singer Imre Laszlo, [[Jimmie Rodgers (country singer)|Jimmie Rodgers]] ('the Singing Brakeman'), [[Mongolian throat singers]], [[W. C. Fields]], [[Laurel and Hardy]] ... and early [[Bing Crosby]].</blockquote>

Redbone was described as "both a musical artist and a performance artist whose very identity was part of his creative output."<ref name=pugh/>  He usually dressed in attire reminiscent of the [[Vaudeville]] era, performing in a [[Panama hat]] with a black band and dark sunglasses, often while sitting at attention on a stool, with a white coat and trousers and a black string tie.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.montgomerynews.com/entertainment/leon-redbone-brings-eclectic-irreverent-music-to-colonial-theatre/article_d2ba5b8b-1d15-5f71-b7ee-a5d630f3cfcd.html|title=Leon Redbone brings eclectic, irreverent music to Colonial Theatre|last=Rubin|first=Felice|date=13 November 2009|website=Montgomery News|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190531074526/http://www.montgomerynews.com/entertainment/leon-redbone-brings-eclectic-irreverent-music-to-colonial-theatre/article_d2ba5b8b-1d15-5f71-b7ee-a5d630f3cfcd.html|archive-date=31 May 2019|url-status=live|access-date=2019-05-31}}</ref>   With his reluctance to discuss his past came speculation that "Leon Redbone" was an alternative identity for another performer.<ref>{{cite web|last=Bruley|first=Abigail|title=NIght Train + Arts & Ale + Leon Redbone|url=http://www.thefeast.com/philadelphia/FEAST-PLAY-PHI-NIght-Train--Arts--Ale--Leon-Redbone-122652399.html|publisher=The Feast|access-date=September 2, 2011|date=May 26, 2011|quote=Leon Redbone, the crooner once thought to be the alter ego of Andy Kaufman or Frank Zappa}}{{Dead link|date=October 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>  Two common suggestions in years past were [[Andy Kaufman]] and [[Frank Zappa]],<ref>{{cite web |title= Leon Redbone On Tour|url=http://www.last.fm/music/Leon+Redbone|publisher=Last.fm|access-date=August 28, 2011}}</ref> both of whom Redbone outlived. Though sometimes compared to Zappa and [[Tom Waits]] for "the strength and strangeness of his persona", he almost exclusively played music from decades before the [[rock music|rock]] era, occasionally writing his own new material in a similar blues-influenced Tin Pan Alley style. (As well, Redbone's only Billboard chart hit, "Seduced", was a newly written tune by Gary Tigerman arranged in Redbone's decades-old style.)  Redbone disdained "blatant sound for people to dance to",<ref name=pugh/> and in a 1991 interview, he said: "The only thing that interests me is history, reviewing the past and making something out of it."<ref name=pugh/>

Redbone survived a small plane crash in [[Clarksburg, West Virginia]], on February 12, 1979.<ref name=Quill /> He thereafter traveled to engagements exclusively by car, saying, "I carry around many unusual items and devices. They make life difficult for airport security personnel and flying impossible for me."<ref name=Quill />

On May 19, 2015 on his website, his publicist referred to concerns about his health and announced his retirement from performing and recording.<ref name=Retirement>{{cite web|title=Leon Redbone has Retired from Performing and Recording|url=http://www.leonredbone.com/|publisher=leonredbone.com|access-date=May 19, 2015|quote=Leon Redbone, the legendary folk/jazz/roots performer has retired from both public appearances and recording. A spokesman for the artist noted, "We share the sadness and disappointment sure to be experienced by his many fans and friends and hope they understand that his health has been a matter of concern for some time. It has become too challenging for him to continue the full range of professional activities."}}</ref>