John Henry and His People: The Historical Origin and Lore of America's Great Folk Ballad

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Foreword by Art Rosenbaum
Preface
Introduction: Leeds, Alabama, July 10-12, 2011
1. The Gist of Things
2. Hammer Like John Henry
3. Great Folk Tune Patterns
4. Based on Fact
5. Rings Like Silver
6. Drilling into John Henry
7. Feuding Over the Mixtery
8. Priority and Slight
9. Nothing but a Man
10. I Had to Eat
11. Mississippi Virginians
12. Engineer in the Civil War
13. Railroad Builder
14. Just Another Negro
15. We Called Him John Henry
16. 1400 East 21st South
17. Trying to Get Things Right
18. Witnesses Good and Bad
19. The Case for West Virginia
20. The Case for Jamaica
21. The Case for Virginia
22. The Case for Alabama
23. Legend and Reality
24. Meaning of John Henry
Appendix
Bibliography
Index

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The song "John Henry," perhaps America's greatest folk ballad, is about an African-American steel driver who raced and beat a steam drill, dying "with his hammer in his hand" from the effort. Most singers and historians believe John Henry was a real person, not a fictitious one, and that his story took place in West Virginia—though other places have been proposed. John Garst argues convincingly that it took place near Dunnavant, Alabama, in 1887.

The author's reconstruction, based on contemporaneous evidence and subsequent research, uncovers a fascinating story that supports the Dunnavant location and provides new insights.

Beyond John Henry, readers will discover the lives and work of his people: Black and white singers; his "captain," contractor Frederick Dabney; C. C. Spencer, the most credible eyewitness; John Henry's wife; the blind singer W. T. Blankenship, who printed the first broadside of the ballad; and later scholars who studied John Henry. The book includes analyses of the song's numerous iterations, several previously unpublished illustrations and a foreword by folklorist Art Rosenbaum.

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