Henry Thomas (1874–1930?) was an American country blues singer, songster and musician. Although his recording career, in the late 1920s, was brief, Thomas influenced performers including Bob Dylan, Taj Mahal, The Lovin' Spoonful, The Grateful Dead, and Canned Heat. Often billed as "Ragtime Texas", Thomas's style is an early example of what later became known as Texas blues guitar.
Life and career
Thomas was born into a family of freed slaves in Big Sandy, Texas, in 1874. He began traveling the Texas railroad lines as a hobo after leaving home in his teens. He eventually earned his way as an itinerant songster, entertaining local populaces as well as railway employees.
He recorded 24 sides for Vocalion Records between 1927 and 1929, 23 of which were released. They include reels, gospel songs, minstrel songs, ragtime numbers, and blues. Besides guitar, Thomas accompanied himself on quills (
African-American pan flute), a folk instrument fabricated from cane reeds whose sound is similar to the zampona played by musicians in Peru and Bolivia. His style of playing guitar was probably derived from banjo-picking styles.
His life and career after his last recordings in 1929 have not been chronicled....
Legacy
... "Bull-Doze Blues", another of Thomas's Vocalion recordings, was reworked by the pianist Johnny Miller in 1927, who rewrote the words and gave it to Wingy Manone, who recorded two versions titled "Up the Country" in December 1927 for Columbia and September 1930 for Champion Records. Except in jazz circles, it remained an obscure blues number until blues-rock group Canned Heat recorded "Going Up the Country". Though rearranged, the Canned Heat song is musically the same, down to a faithful rendition of Thomas's quill solos by Jim Horn. The lyrics also borrow from Blind Willie McTell's "Statesboro Blues" (1928). Fellow band member Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson rewrote the lyrics entirely and received credit on the song's original release in 1968 on Canned Heat's third album, Living the Blues. The next year, the group played at the Woodstock Festival. The live performance of "Going Up the Country" was featured in the motion picture
Woodstock and appeared as the second cut on the soundtrack album.
"Don't Ease Me In" was covered by the Grateful Dead on their first single in 1966, and on their album Go to Heaven. Thomas's recording of "Don't Ease Me In" is included on the compilation album
The Music Never Stopped: Roots of the Grateful Dead....
Ron's fascist fanboys are tweeting their whines.
I forgot about that, and it wasn't very long ago that I was bitching about them. Opps. Link deleted, feel free to do the same.
Given the exorbitant fees that monopolistic Ticketmaster imposes one would hope it could get its act together for its one job.
I didn't know that the Beatles had 19 albums.
