Reviewed by Paul Poulton

"This Old Hammer Killed John Henry" is a famous song. John Henry was born a slave and worked as a labourer for the railroads after the Civil War. He died in his 30s, leaving behind a pretty young wife and a baby, a wife who had picked up John's hammer and stood in for him, working as hard as any man, to cover for her ill husband. That's the legend. The song has been covered by a number of people including Bruce Springsteen. If you want to hear a tense moody version from people who were closer to the time than we are, (late 1920s, or early 1930s), it is performed here by Mr William Henry Smith's Jubilee Singers, and a pretty good job they make of it too. There are three choirs on here with the word 'Jubilee' in their title, not surprising when you think what the biblical jubilee represented, although jubilee was a particular style of singing for choirs, its slightly formal approach to singing had started in the late 1800's. By the time the 1940's hit, choirs were less restricted and the wonderful Wandering Boys used jazz and rhythm and blues phrasing, and although it's too early for them to be called 'doo wop', (although they appear to be from NJ which isn't too far from where doo wop originated), it's not hard to see how the evolution of the '50s styles of singing spread throughout the US and developed. The Wandering Boys have four songs on this CD. The Original Kings Of Harmony also fall into the transitional period where choirs began to lose their formality, they sing "New Born Again" with panache and style along with six other songs. More fascinating musical history from Document Records.

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