HENRY SLOAN

        

Henry Sloan (January 1870 – possibly March 13, 1948) was an African American musician, one of the earliest figures in the history of Delta Blues. Very little is known for certain about his life, other than he tutored Charlie Patton in the ways of the blues. There have been suggestions that he moved to Chicago shortly after World War I. He left no recordings.

According to researcher David Evans, Sloan was born in Mississippi in 1870, and by 1900 was living in the same community as the Patton and Chatmon families near Bolton, Mississippi. He moved to the Dockery Plantation near Indianola about the same time as the Pattons, between 1901 and 1904. Patton received some direct instruction from Sloan, and played with him for several years. Two of Patton’s later accompanists, Tommy Johnson and Son House, both stated that Patton "dogged every step" of Sloan's.

Further research based on Census records has suggested that, in 1920, Sloan and his family were living around West Memphis, Arkansas. He may have been the Henry Sloan whose death, aged 78, occurred in Crittenden County on March 13, 1948.

              

African American composer W. C. Handy wrote in his autobiography of the experience of sleeping on a train traveling through (or stopping at the station of) Tutwiler, Mississippi around 1903, and being awakened by:

... a lean, loose-jointed Negro [who] had commenced plucking a guitar beside me while I slept. His clothes were rags; his feet peeped out of his shoes. His face had on it some of the sadness of the ages.

As he played, he pressed a knife on the strings in a manner popularised by Hawaiian guitarists who used steel bars. ... The effect was unforgettable. His song, too, struck me instantly... The singer repeated the line ("Goin' where the Southern cross' the Dog") three times, accompanying himself on the guitar with the weirdest music I had ever heard.

The man at the train station is rumoured to be Henry Sloan...An Elder from Dockery Plantation that taught Charley Patton to play.. The Peavine Railroad went from Dockery to "Where the Southeren Cross the Dog" a few miles away to connect to all points North and West.

This is a version of the song that WC Handy heard that day...

Henry Sloan (enero de 1870 - 13 de marzo de 1948?)1 fue un músico afroamericano, una de las primeras figuras en la historia de Delta blues. Se conoce muy poco con seguridad sobre su vida, entre aquellos a los que ha tutelado en blues está Charlie Patton. Se mudó a Chicago, poco después de la Primera Guerra Mundial, no hay grabaciones suyas.

Según el investigador David Evans,2 Sloan nació en Mississippi en 1870, y en 1900 estaba viviendo en la misma comunidad de las familias de Patton y Chatmon cerca de Bolton, Mississippi. Se trasladó a la plantación de Indianola Dockery aproximadamente al mismo tiempo que los Pattons, entre 1901 y 1904. Patton recibió clases de Sloan, y tocó con él durante varios años. Dos de los acompañantes posteriores de Patton, Tommy Johnson y Son House, afirmaban que Patton era tenaz en cada paso como lo fue Sloan.

Una posibilidad indemostrable es que Sloan era el misterioso vagabundo observado por el músico W.C. Handy tocando guitarra en la estación de tren Tutwiler en 1903. Handy escribió en su autobiografía ser despertado por "... un negro flaco, flojo. Había empezado a tocar la guitarra a mi lado mientras estaba dormido. Sus ropas eran harapos, los dedos de sus pies se asomaban entre los agujeros de sus zapatos. Su rostro llevaba la tristeza de los años. ¡Como tocaba!, él presionaba un cuchillo sobre las cuerdas de la guitarra. ... El efecto fue inolvidable ... el cantante repetía la línea "Goin' where the Southern cross the Dog" tres veces, acompañándose así mismo con una guitarra con la música más extraña que había escuchado."