Garst, John. John Henry and His People: The Historical Origins and Lore of America’s Great Folk Ballad. McFarland, 2022.

Abstract

The origins of the John Henry myth have vexed scholars since the nineteenth century. Who was this man who fought a steam-powered drill only to die in his victory? Did he even exist? What was the genesis of the folk ballad that cropped up in his name, ever-changing in its details related to location and specifics? John Garst explores these questions and more in his work: John Henry and His People: The Historical Origin and Lore of America’s Great Folk Ballad. While Garst is a chemist by trade, he is also a “folk song enthusiast, hobbyist, and amateur scholar [with a] sixty-five-year interest in American folksong” (7). His interest in folklore stems from the fluidity of form: “For folklore, time also brings recognition of value, but folklore has a great advantage over fixed art. Folklore is winnowed in another sense. It is changed” (51). As Garst writes, the popular ballad has continued to resonate because it adapts to its cultural context as it is just specific enough to be plausible, but also vague enough to imbue significance across generations. These shifts—in verbiage, but more importantly, in meaning—are the heart of John Henry and His People’s long-form excavation of the Henry myth.