He wielded his famous hammer as forcefully as anyone, but he still needed what’s called a “shaker,” the man who held the steel rod that Henry hammered into the rock. “Steel” begins with ...

John Henry the folk legend was said to be a “steel-driving man,” a.k.a., a man whose job was to hammer a steel drill into rock in order to make new tunnels for the railroad after the Civil War.

The original folk hero story centers on a “steel-driving man” tasked with hammering a steel drill into rock to make holes for explosives to blast the rock in constructing a railroad tunnel.

In almost 200 folk songs, John Henry drives steel into the Allegheny Mountains for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad in a race against a steam drill: “John Henry, O John Henry, Blood am runnin’ red!

According to one version of The Ballad of John Henry, when he was a baby, he sat on his papa's knee, picked up a hammer and a piece of steel, and said that the hammer was going to be the death of him.

In folklore, Henry was a steel driver who successfully raced against a steel machine to drill into rock, only to die in the process. Yesterday (October 9), the actor posted a teaser for an ...

With “Steel Hammer” director Anne Bogart marries Julia Wolfe’s music with theater “Steel Hammer” started out with Wolfe’s music that was nominated for a Pulizer Prize “Steel Hammer ...

Instead of dramatizing the John Henry story, they've turned their attention to Henry's partner, the shaker--the man who turned the steel rod that Henry hit with his mighty hammer.

Instead of dramatizing the John Henry story, they've turned their attention to Henry's partner, the shaker—the man who turned the steel rod that Henry hit with his mighty hammer.