Henry Sloan
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Henry Sloan
(born: don't know... Henry Sloan lives!)
Henry Sloan is another Bluesman lost in the sands of time. Next to nothing is known about Henry, which is exactly how much will probably ever be known. Unfortunately, Henry never recorded. The only thing we know that he did do was set a musical ripple into motion, the likes of which changed music forever. Simply, he taught Charley Patton how to play guitar and schooled/mentored him in the Blues on Dockery Plantation. Afterwards, as far as records, history, and the Blues knows, Henry Sloan faded into the mist of time, lost forever. But from Charley Patton's schooling came Charley Patton's antics and determined, coarse, hypnotic guitar ability. From Patton came Robert Johnson, Son House, and Howlin' Wolf. Muddy Waters and a host of others learned from that, and they begat a whole mess of stringers playing and creating on what they'd built. They had names like Jimi Hendrix, whose behind the back guitar playing, among other antics, came straight from the book of Patton. Other bands cropped up singing songs that had been influenced largely by that tiny clan of a few men playing away the day's work. These people had names like The Rolling Stones, Led Zepplin, and Nirvana. Henry may have done nothing more, as far as history is concerned, than teach a poor farmboy a few guitar licks and a feel for a new kind of music, but he dropped a spark in a haystack that burns white hot to this day.
Notable songs by Henry Sloan
No known Henry Sloan recordings exist, and probably none do. If you've got one, you'd better speak up quick.
