John Henry Barbee
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John Henry Barbee (November 14, 1905 – November 3, 1964)Wynn, Ron. John Henry Barbee: Biography
Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
 was an American blues
singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...
and guitarist. He was born in
Henning, Tennessee Henning is a town in Lauderdale County, Tennessee. The population was 945 at the 2010 census. History The infamous Battle of Fort Pillow, a Civil War victory for the Confederates, took place near Henning. Here, nearly 300 black troops serving in ...
. He claimed that he was born William George Tucker and that he changed his name with the commencement of his
recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...
career, in tribute to his favorite
folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fo ...
song, " The Ballad of John Henry", but this claim is not supported by census records, in which he is registered as the son of Beecher Barbee and Cora Gilford.Eagle, Bob; LeBlanc, Eric S. (2013). ''Blues: A Regional Experience''
Santa Barbara, California: Praeger. p. 241.


Biography

Barbee toured in the 1930s throughout the American South, singing and playing slide guitar. He teamed up with Big Joe Williams and, later, with
Sunnyland Slim Albert Luandrew (September 5, 1906March 17, 1995), "Blues pianist and singer Sunnyland Slim was born Albert Luandrew in Vance, Mississippi, September 5, 1906 (most sources say 1907, but the Social Security Death Index and 1920 census data give t ...
in
Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...
. Travelling down to
Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
, he met Sonny Boy Williamson and played with him off and on for several years. He released two sides for
Vocalion Records Vocalion Records is an American record company and label. History The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pianos and organs, as Aeolian-Vocalion; the company also sold phonographs under the Vocalion name. "Aeolian" was ...
in 1939 ("Six Weeks Old Blues" and "God Knows I Can't Help It"). The record sold well enough to cause Vocalion to call on Barbee again, but by that time he had left his last known whereabouts in
Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...
. Barbee explained that this sudden move was due to his evading the law for shooting and killing his girlfriend's lover. He later found out that he had only injured the man, but by the time this was discovered, Barbee was no longer making a career playing music. Barbee did not show up again in the music industry until the early 1960s, when a revival of interest in the blues was at its height. Willie Dixon searched for Barbee and found him working as an ice-cream server in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
. In 1964, Barbee joined the
American Folk Blues Festival The American Folk Blues Festival was a music festival that toured Europe as an annual event for several years beginning in 1962. It introduced audiences in Europe, including the UK, to leading blues performers of the day such as Muddy Waters, Howl ...
on a European tour with other blues players, including
Lightnin' Hopkins Samuel John "Lightnin" Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982) was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist from Centerville, Texas. In 2010, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him No. 71 on its list ...
and
Howlin' Wolf Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Over a four-decade care ...
. Barbee returned to the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
after getting diagnosed with a severe form of cancer, and used the money from the tour to purchase his first
automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarde ...
. Ten days after buying the car, he accidentally ran over and killed a man. He was taken to a Chicago jail and died there of a
heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
a few days later, on November 3, 1964, 11 days before his 59th birthday. He is interred in the
Restvale Cemetery Restvale Cemetery open 1927 is located at 11700 S. Laramie Ave. in Alsip, Illinois, United States, a suburb southwest of the city of Chicago. A number of Chicago blues musicians, educators, and notable people are buried here. Restvale and Burr ...
, in
Alsip, Illinois Alsip is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 19,063 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. Alsip was settled in the 1830s by German and Dutch farmers. The village is named after Frank ...
. The third annual White Lake Blues Festival, held at the Howmet Playhouse Theater in Whitehall, Michigan, on May 11, 2010, was organized by executive producer Steve Salter, of the nonprofit organization Killer Blues, to raise monies to honor Barbee's unmarked grave with a headstone. The event was a success, and a stone was placed in June 2010.


Discography

* ''Portraits in Blues'', vol. 9 (Storyville, 1964), studio album * ''Blues Live! 1964'', (Storyville, 1985), split album with live shows by Barbee and
Sleepy John Estes John Adam Estes (January 25, 1899 or 1900June 5, 1977),
 known as Sleepy John Estes, was an Am ...
* ''Blues Masters'', vol. 3 (Storyville, 1994), compilation


See also

*
List of blues musicians Blues musicians are musical artists who are primarily recognized as writing, performing, and recording blues music. They come from different eras and include styles such as ragtime-vaudeville, Delta and country blues, and urban styles from Chic ...
*
List of country blues musicians The following is a list of country blues musicians. A *Alger "Texas" Alexander (September 12, 1900, Jewett, Texas – April 16, 1954). Singer, a forebear of Texas blues. He did not play a musical instrument but was backed by such artists as ...
*
List of Delta blues musicians The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues music. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, a region of the United States that stretches from north to south between Memphis, Tennessee, and Vicksburg, Mississippi, and from east to west be ...


References


Other sources

*Oliver, Paul; Albertson, Chris (1964, 1981). LP liner notes. ''I Ain't Gonna Pick No More Cotton''. Blues Roots, vol. 3. Storyville SLP 4037.


External links


Illustrated John Henry Barbee discography

Bluebeat.com biography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barbee, John Henry 1905 births 1964 deaths African-American guitarists 20th-century African-American male singers American blues singers American blues guitarists American male guitarists Country blues musicians Delta blues musicians People from Henning, Tennessee 20th-century American guitarists Burials at Restvale Cemetery