“A man ain’t nothing but a man”

The John Henry Legend Has Inspired 200 Songs . . . and Counting

Country and the Blues largely originated in the South with this ‘Steel Drivin’ Man’

The statue of the famous folk hero John Henry stands in an overlook above the CSX Big Bend tunnel in West Virginia between routes 63, 12 and 3. Photo by jpmueller99. (link)

Is it possible that one person inspired both Blues and country music?

Yes.

His name is John Henry — of folklore legend, a legend that was forged in muscle and might in the Age of Reconstruction and the Golden Age of the Railroad, but recent research from Scott Nelson has revealed that John Henry was real —

“. . . a nineteen-year-old from New Jersey who was convicted of theft in a Virginia court in 1866, sentenced to ten years in the penitentiary, and put to work building the C&O Railroad. There, at the Lewis Tunnel, Henry and other prisoners worked alongside steam-powered drills” (Steel Drivin’ Man).

Here is a fascinating lecture from the Virginia Museum of History and Culture:

Steel Drivin' Man: John Henry, the Untold Story of an American Legend | Virginia Museum of History…

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