Harry McClintock

Harry "Haywire Mac" McClintock (born 1882 in Knoxville, Tennessee; died 1957 in San Francisco, California) was a prominent pre-war hillbilly and folk recording artist, rather than a traditional blues musician. A lifelong itinerant worker, sailor, and associated with the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and labor activism, McClintock's repertoire was steeped in railroad lore and hobo folklore. He recorded extensively for Victor Records in the late 1920s, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar. His most enduring recording, "Big Rock Candy Mountain," paints a comedic, utopian vision of hobo life and became a massive cultural touchstone. While his music frequently utilized blues-adjacent structures, McClintock's legacy is firmly rooted in preserving the early American folk and union protest traditions that later heavily influenced artists like Woody Guthrie.