John Henry Barbee

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Henry Barbee (born November 14, 1905 in Tennessee , † November 3, 1964 ) was an American blues singer and guitarist .

He was born in Henning, Tennessee and grew up on his father's farm, where he taught himself to play the guitar. He first gained fame in his region as a street musician and in pubs and at parties. His claim to have been born as "William George Tucker" and finally to have renamed himself "John Henry" after a folk ballad which he often played is not supported by any census (his father was Beecher Barbee, his mother Cora Gilford). After playing with several musicians in the 1920s and 1930s, the Vocalion company offered him recordings and he recorded his first record in Chicago in 1938 .

Because a white man molested his wife , John Henry Barbee shot him, but only hit him in the leg. Believing that he had murdered the man, he escaped and went into hiding. He made little music and worked in a laundry until 1963, when Willie Dixon's son rediscovered him as a singing ice cream seller.

Dixon made a comeback possible for him and suggested him for the American Folk Blues Festival in 1964. During this visit to Europe, additional recordings were made with him (by the Danish record label Storyville ). Shortly afterwards he had to cancel the tour because of severe pain and was admitted to a Chicago clinic. When he was released he had been diagnosed with cancer and had little chance of survival, whereupon he bought a car with his fee and ran over a passerby for lack of driving experience and permission. He was then taken into custody and died of a heart attack a day later .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bob Eagle & Eric S. LeBlanc: Blues - A Regional Experience. Santa Barbara (Praeger Publishers) 2013, p.241
personal data
SURNAME Barbee, John Henry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American blues singer and guitarist
DATE OF BIRTH November 14, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Tennessee
DATE OF DEATH 3rd November 1964