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Henry Sloan

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Asclepius:
Hi all,

Long, *long* time lurker here. I never thought I had anything to contribute previously! I've been on my latest deep(ish) dive into the Blues, was enthralled by the NYT article on Geeshie Wiley and L.V. Thomas, and went down the rabbit hole on Mack McCormick and his - now digital - archive. Jeez, seeing that altered death certificate for Blind Willie Johnson made my blood run cold.

Anyway, it got me thinking that some of what we know can also be fallible.

An interest of mine has always been in Henry Sloan. I've done research on and off over the years, and had always wanted to find out about his descendants. Obviously, established lore and research has him dying in Crittenden, Arkansas in 1948. But I wanted to 100% verify that before digging further this time. And the first thing I found out is that the Crittenden guy ain't our Henry. There were two kicking around similar areas in Mississippi in the late 1800s/early 1900s, and the one who ends up in Crittenden isn't the one who had lived at Hinds County and had been geographically close to Charley Patton etc.

So, I suppose, where do I take this? I'm tempted to dig deeper and write about my research, but to what end? Would it matter? Would it seep through anywhere, or will the 1948 date and the associated heirs always be the established truth? Should I blog my research? Write about it here? Could I even consider Patreon-ing it? What sort of interest even is there in digging at this old, old thread of a long-dead Bluesman that no-one alive ever heard (and for whom there's some debate on whether he actually did teach Charley anything in particular!)

Any thoughts/feedback etc appreciated.

Btw just wanted to say that some of the long, detailed threads I've read on musicians' genealogies, and on archives on here has been amazing. You're all great!

Blues Vintage:
Hi Asclepius,

According to David Evans, Henry Sloan was the first musician to set field hollers to guitar accompaniment.
If that's true, that makes him a compelling figure in the blues.  But there are a lot of discrepancies - even among scholars about Sloan.
I think it's great you're trying to unlock his mystery but can you find reliable information some 100 years later?
If you do find something that has authenticity I would be glad to see it.

MTJ3:
Asclepius,

It is great that you are digging as you are and have the interests that you have.  I have found that as more and more things become available online, I can get more and more reliable documentary information on even century old matters. And I can be led into just as many dead ends.  What you are about is a labour of love (like most of the rest of us), but if you turn up anything of interest that you want to publish, there are a number of outlets for your research (e.g., Paul Swinton's Frog Blues and Jazz Annual).  We would find it healing.  (Sorry. Couldn't help it.)

The McCormick archive you mention is, well, um, interesting.  I hate to speak ill of the dead, but if you have read Biography of a Phantom, you may be inclined to take some of the archive not just cum grano salis but with a salt lick. I have researched the Blind Willie Johnson death certificate question at some length, and I could be off base (in part, because there are some potential diachronicity problems), but I strongly suspect that the whole death certificate business in McCormick's archive may be a fabrication.  There's a short answer and a long answer to that, and I will start a new thread on that soon.

But keep up the good work!

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