Saturday Music Post - Goin' Up the Country

Canned Heat had a hit with "Goin' Up the Country" in 1968, which later became known as a "hippie rural anthem." The vocal was by Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson, rather than the group's usual vocalist Bob "The Bear" Hite.  In fact, the song was an adaptation of Henry Thomas's "Bull Doze Blues," released in 1928. Thomas played a unique, home-made wind instrument call the quills, fashioned from hollow reeds, which the Canned Heat cover imitated on flute, played on the recording by non-band member Jim Horn. Hite pretended to play the flute on a lip-synced video. Other covers have played the quills parts on fiddle, mandolin, trumpet, blues harp, or not at all. You can compare them at The Faculty Lounge.