Richard Leslie Henry (born May 26, 1921 – December 5, 2004),
better known as Big Boy Henry, was an American
Piedmont blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. His most notable recording was "Mr. President",
a protest against cuts in social welfare undertaken by President
Ronald Reagan. It won Henry a
W. C. Handy Award.
Life and career
Henry was born in
Beaufort,
Carteret County, North Carolina
Carteret County is located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 67,686. Its county seat is Beaufort. The county was created in 1722 as Carteret Precinct and gained county status in 1739. It was named f ...
.
He grew up in New Bern, near the North Carolina coast, in the 1920s and 1930s There he befriended the
country blues
Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) is one of the earliest forms of blues music. The mainly solo vocal with acoustic fingerstyle guitar accompaniment developed in the rural Southern United States in t ...
musician Fred Miller, and first as Miller's apprentice and later as his vocalist, Henry earned a modest living performing at local
juke joint
Juke joint (also jukejoint, jook house, jook, or juke) is the vernacular term for an informal establishment featuring music, dancing, gambling, and drinking, primarily operated by African Americans in the southeastern United States. A juke joint ...
s and fish suppers.
Miller later relocated to
New York, and Henry made occasional trips there for joint performances. In New York, Henry met
Sonny Terry and
Brownie McGhee
Walter Brown "Brownie" McGhee (November 30, 1915 – February 16, 1996) was an American folk music and Piedmont blues singer and guitarist, best known for his collaboration with the harmonica player Sonny Terry.
Life and career
McGhee was ...
, and in 1951 he accompanied the duo on some recordings for the producer Bob Shad. The recordings were not released, and a dejected Henry returned to
the Carolinas
The Carolinas are the U.S. states of North Carolina and South Carolina, considered collectively. They are bordered by Virginia to the north, Tennessee to the west, and Georgia to the southwest. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east.
Combining Nor ...
, where worked on fishing and oystering crews throughout most of the 1950s and 1960s. During this period he also ran a grocery store and was a part-time preacher.
In 1971, he moved back to Beaufort, where to his surprise younger musicians championed his musical talent. He was soon performing again and writing many new songs, accompanying himself on his Gibson guitar. In later years arthritis affected his guitar playing, so he often improvised, presenting a challenge to the local musicians backing him.
Henry's song "Mr. President",
recorded in
Greenville, North Carolina, in the early 1980s for Audio Arts Records, was a protest against cuts in social welfare undertaken by President
Ronald Reagan. It won Henry a
W. C. Handy Award in 1983. In 1995, he received the
North Carolina Arts Council
The North Carolina Arts Council is an organization in the U.S. state of North Carolina that provides grants to artists, musicians and arts organizations. The group's mission is "arts for all people." It was founded by executive order in 1964 by Gov ...
Heritage Award
The PRS for Music Heritage Award is a ceremonial plaque installed in a public place to commemorate a link between a famous musician or music band and the location they performed their first live gig. The UK-wide plaque is awarded and funded by ...
.
He recorded a number of self-released albums in the 1980s and 1990s, often on cassette on his own Hometown Records label, which reached only a limited audience.
He became a respected figure locally, mainly because of his generous nature and support of other musicians.
Henry also attempted to preserve and record chanties he had sung with other fishermen who went out to catch
menhaden
Menhaden, also known as mossbunker and bunker and "the most important fish in the sea", are forage fish of the genera ''Brevoortia'' and ''Ethmidium'', two genera of marine fish in the family Clupeidae. ''Menhaden'' is a blend of ''poghaden' ...
for a living. This led to the formation of
The Menhaden Chanteymen, a singing and performing group of retired fishermen.
Henry's 1995 album, ''Poor Man's Blues'', was produced by
Lightnin' Wells
Lightnin' Wells is an American Piedmont blues multi-instrumentalist and singer. He is a proficient musician and regularly plays various instruments in concert including the guitar, mandolin, harmonica, ukulele and banjo. At times he has perfor ...
.
Towards the end of his life, the
Music Maker Relief Foundation provided a monthly stipend for prescription medicine and arranged for his album ''Beaufort Blues'' to be professionally produced. He was profiled in the book ''Music Makers: Portraits and Songs from the Roots of America'' (2004).
Henry died in his hometown in December 2004, at the age of 83.
Discography
Singles and LPs
* 1983, "Mr. President" / "Cherry Red (I Don't Need No Heater)", Audio Arts 007 (45-rpm)
* 1985, "Mr. Ball's Warehouse", Audio Arts 008 (7-inch EP)
* 1988, ''I'm Not Lying This Time: His First Recordings 1947–1952'', Swingmaster 2114 (Dutch label)
* 1989, ''Strut His Stuff: His New Recordings'', Swingmaster 2117
CD albums
References
External links
The origins of "Mr. President"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henry, Big Boy
1921 births
2004 deaths
American blues guitarists
American blues singers
20th-century African-American male singers
20th-century American singers
People from Beaufort, North Carolina
Songwriters from North Carolina
Guitarists from North Carolina
American male guitarists
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century American male singers
African-American songwriters
African-American guitarists
21st-century African-American people
American male songwriters