Henry Thomas (blues Musician) - Legacy

Legacy

Thomas's legacy has been sustained by his songs, which were revived by musicians beginning in the folk music revival of the early 1960s. Among the first of these was "Honey Won't You Allow Me One More Chance", which was re-interpreted by Bob Dylan on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan in 1963 under the title "Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance". Dylan probably first heard of the blues musician through Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music, which ended with one of Thomas's best-known tunes, "Fishin' Blues". Although Dylan re-worked the melody and almost totally re-wrote the lyrics, he credited Thomas as co-writer on the Freewheelin' release.

Thomas's song "Fishin' Blues" was recorded by the US folk-rock group Lovin' Spoonful in 1965, appearing on their hit debut album Do You Believe in Magic?. The song was recorded three years later, in 1968, by blues musician Taj Mahal for one of his first albums, De Old Folks at Home and has since been released on many of Taj Mahal's greatest hits compilations. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band also covered the song on their album Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Volume III in 2002.

"Bull Doze Blues", another of Thomas's Vocalion recordings, remained an obscure blues number until it was picked up by the blues-rock group Canned Heat as the basis for the song "Going Up the Country". Though re-arranged, the Canned Heat song is musically the same, down to a faithful rendition of Thomas's quill solos by Jim Horn. Fellow band member Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson re-wrote 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. Their 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 album Go to Heaven; and Thomas's vintage recording of "Don't Ease Me In" is included on the compilation album The Music Never Stopped: Roots of the Grateful Dead. The Lovin' Spoonful recorded an original song entitled "Henry Thomas" on their 1966 album Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful. In 1993 the band Deacon Blue released a song entitled "Last Night I Dreamed Of Henry Thomas" on their Whatever You Say, Say Nothing album. In addition, his arrangement for "Cottonfield Blues" was performed by early Delta blues musicians Garfield Akers and Mississippi Joe Callicott in 1929.