A Steel Driving Man

"John Henry" is among the most recorded folk songs in the English language. The site documents more than 400 prior versions of the song, more than any other song of "The Seeger Sessions."

The basic man vs. machine story of John Henry is well-known; various versions of the song have him coming from Mississippi, Alabama, Virginia and other locations. In most versions, John Henry is a former slave, but there are versions depicting John Henry as a white murderer and with other backgrounds as well. A site at ibiblio, http://www.ibiblio.org/john_henry/, documents both the legend of John Henry as well as many recordings of the song; links to the audio may be found from the audio page of this site.

This site documents 49 recordings of "John Henry" prior to 1950, far more than any other. This site documents 238 recordings of "John Henry" through 1974, no other song approaches 100. The 50 field recordings for "John Henry" documented here dwarf the numbers for any other song. "John Henry" has been very popular as a bluegrass number, and this site documents almost 80 instrumental versions of it (most of them bluegrass).

Although "John Henry" has remained popular recently, among the songs on "The Seeger Sessions" it has been eclipsed in recent years by "Shenandoah."

There are far too many notable versions of "John Henry" to list them all without referencing the recordings page for the song. Woody Guthrie and Cisco Houston did the song as a duet; their version is available on many collections. That recording, as well as Leadbelly's stirring 12-string recording, Van Morrison's more recent version, Big Bill Broonzy's version, The Smothers Brothers comedy take on it, and bluegrass versions by Doc Watson and by Bill Monroe are among the recordings that may be heard via the audio page of this site. Versions by Etta James, Flatt & Scruggs, Paul Robeson, Duane Eddy, Harry Belafonte, and Jerry Lee Lewis are just a few among a large number worth checking out.