In this column: The Great 78 project, 78 rpm records, Vocalion Records, Henry Thomas - Bull Doze Blues, Canned Heat - Going up the country, Tommy Johnson, Canned Heat Blues, Sterno
The Great 78 project
The Great 78 Project! Listen to this collection of 78rpm records, cylinder recordings, and other recordings from the early 20th century. These recordings were contributed to the Archive by users through the Open Source Audio collection. Also the Internet Archive has digitized many.
Vocalion Records
The label was founded in 1916. In late 1924, the label was acquired by Brunswick Records. During the 1920s, Vocalion also began the 1000 race series, records recorded by and marketed to African Americans. The label issued Robert Johnson's "Cross Road Blues".
Vocalion was one of the most popular labels in the late 1930s. However, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) bought American Record Corporation in 1938, and in July 1940 they discontinued Vocalion, replacing it with the Okeh label.
The name Vocalion was resurrected in the late 1950s by American Decca as a budget label for back-catalog reissues (Wikipedia).

Henry Thomas – Bull Doze Blues (Going up the country)
Canned Heat – Going up the country
Canned Heat
Canned Heat took the name from Tommy Johnson's 1928 "Canned Heat Blues", a song about an alcoholic who had desperately turned to drinking Sterno, generically called "canned heat", from the original 1914 product name Sterno Canned Heat (see 4th episode of food/drinks).
Tommy Johnson and Ishman Bracey – Canned heat blues
...
I woke up, this morning, crying, canned heat 'ourn my bed.
Run here, somebody, take these canned heat blues.
Run here, somebody, and take these canned heat blues.
...
Meaning "canned heat"
Although "canned heat" is associated with the dangerous methanol-based drink, it also refers to a mysterious substance that can stick in your heels and encourage you to dance to the beat of a boogie. To forget your worries for a while in this way; "All these bad times I'm goin' through just DANCE! Got Canned Heat in my heels tonight baby.
Sources: The Great 78 project (Internet Archive), Wikipedia, YouTube