<P> "Going Up the Country" (also Goin' Up the Country) is a song adapted and recorded by American blues rock band Canned Heat . Called a "rural hippie anthem", it became one of the band's biggest hits and best - known songs . As with their previous single, "On the Road Again", the song was adapted from a 1920s blues song and sung in a countertenor - style by Alan Wilson . </P> <P> Canned Heat, who were early blues enthusiasts, based "Going Up the Country" on "Bull Doze Blues", recorded in 1928 by Texas bluesman Henry Thomas . Thomas was from the songster tradition and had a unique sound, sometimes accompanying himself on quills, an early Afro - American wind instrument similar to panpipes . He recorded "Bull Doze Blues" in Chicago on June 13, 1928, for Vocalion Records . </P> <P> For "Going Up the Country", Canned Heat's Wilson used Thomas' melody on the quills and his basic rhythm, but arranged it for a rock setting and rewrote the lyrics . In addition to the bass and drum rhythm section, Henry Vestine supplied a "light electric rhythm guitar" and multi-instrumentalist Jim Horn reproduced Thomas' quill parts on the flute . </P> <P> Although linked to the counterculture of the 1960s' back - to - the - land movement, Wilson's lyrics are ambiguous: </P>

Who played flute on going up the country