The estate of late bluesman Bo Carter are suing Eric Clapton over what they say is a wrong songwriting credit.
Clapton covered the track Alberta on his 1992 Unplugged album and credited the song to Huddie ‘Lead Belly’ Ledbetter.
However, in a lawsuit filed in Nashville, the estate of Bo Carter claim that the song in question was actually a rendition of Carter’s Corrine, Corrina – a track which, over time, became interchangeable with Alberta, according to Carter’s step-grandson Miles Floyd.
Floyd’s lawyer Barry Shrum tells the Associated Press (via Canoe): “This is a situation where you have the estate, the rightful owners of Bo’s intellectual property, just trying to get what’s rightfully theirs and get credit where credit is due.
“Bo created this song and started, in essence, a genre in music and influenced many performers in the future, and he deserves that credit.”
Carter, who died in 1964, was known to perform with his brothers in the Mississippi Sheiks in the 30s.
The lawsuit states that they covered the song using the lyrics ‘Alberta, Alberta’ rather than ‘Corrine, Corrina’ and titled it Alberta Blues. And although Ledbetter did record a track titled Alberta, it was not musically similar to the original Corrine, Corrina, according the suit.
The lawsuit is seeking $5 million from Clapton, Warner Music Group, Rhino Music, MTV and Viacom.
