DESCRIPTION:
"John Henry", Henry Thomas' version of an old American folk ballad, was recorded for Vocalion Records in the late 20s. Here he accompanies himself with guitar and quills, an African American equivalent of panpipes.

Thomas himself was born in Big Sandy, Texas around 1874 and lived the life of an itinerant songster before recording twenty-three sides for Vocalion between 1927 and 1929. Very little else is known of his life including his date of death, which very much adds to the mystique of his music.