I do The Farmer's Curst Wife in G7 with a simple, rolling pattern... the 7th note keeps it interesting. I also do John Henry with just a C chord in an arrangement (if you can have a one-chord arrangement) recorded by Mainer's Mountaineers) that made a done-to-boredom song fun to sing. It also has some memoralbe lines... "When they people out West heard of John Henry's death, they couldn't hardly stay in bed." Ever hear news that was so disturbing you coulodn't hardly stay in bed? I have... that line pretty much says a whole song full, to me.

Jerry