Acoustic Blues guitarist Mississippi John Hurt died on this day in 1966 in Grenada, MS at age 73. John Hurt was a genial, humble, and gentle man whose personality and music belied that of the typical Mississippi Bluesman. His refined and lyrical fingerpicking style gave his music a warmth unique in the genre. Hurt was born and raised in the small Mississippi Hill Country town of Avalon (POP 100). He was discovered by accident by a scout from OKeh Records and brought to NY to record in 1928. Only a handful of his recordings were released, and those got a tepid response from the Blues-buying public. Hurt returned to his farm in Avalon. He may have lived and died in obscurity, except for a Blues scholar named Tom Hoskins, who took the lyrics from Hurt`s 1928 recording Avalon Blues and found the tiny community on a dirt road in rural Mississippi in the early 60s. To his ( and Hurt`s) surprise, he found John Hurt driving an old tractor on his farm. Hurt was in his 70s, but his musical skills were intact. Hoskns brought Hurt to The Newport Folk Festival, where the gentle Bluesman was greeted as a living legend. He was soon signed to Vanguard Records He recorded right up untill his passing in 1966. If you don` have any Mississippi John Hurt in your collection, you most definately should. Try Avalon Blues or Worried Blues on Rounder, which is his 1928 recordings, or the highly recommended 2 CD set The Complete Studio Sessions on Vanguard. John Smith Hurt, better known as Mississippi John Hurt (July 3, 1893[1][2] or March 8, 1892[3] — November 2, 1966) was an American country blues singer and guitarist.[4 Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, Hurt taught himself how to play the guitar around age nine. Singing to a melodious finger-picked accompaniment,[5] he began to play local dances and parties while working as a sharecropper. He first recorded for Okeh Records in 1928, but these recordings were commercial failures. Hurt then drifted out of the recording scene and continued to work as a farmer. Tom Hoskins, a blues enthusiast, located Hurt in 1963 and convinced him to relocate to Washington, D.C. where he was recorded by the Library of Congress in 1964. This helped further the American folk music revival, which had led to the rediscovery of many other bluesmen of Hurts era. Hurt entered the university and coffeehouse concert circuit with other Delta blues musicians brought out of retirement. As well as playing concerts, he recorded several albums for Vanguard Hurt died in Grenada, Mississippi. Material recorded by him has been re-released by many record labels over the years and his songs have been recorded by Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Beck, Doc Watson, John McCutcheon, Taj Mahal, Bruce Cockburn, David Johansen, Bill Morrissey, Gillian Welch, Guthrie Thomas and Rory Block.[6] Born John Smith Hurt in Teoc,[7] Carroll County, Mississippi and raised in Avalon, Mississippi, he learned to play guitar at age nine. He was completely self-taught, stealthily playing the guitar of a friend of his mothers, who often stayed at the Hurt home while courting a lady who lived near by. He spent much of his youth playing old time music for friends and dances, earning a living as a farmhand into the 1920s.[8] His fast, highly syncopated style of playing made his music adept for dancing. On occasion, a medicine show would come through the area; Hurt recalls being wanted by one of them. One of them wanted me, but I said no because I just never wanted to get away from home.[7] In 1923 he partnered with the fiddle player Willie Narmour as a substitute for his regular partner Shell Smith.[8] First recordings When Narmour got a chance to record for Okeh Records as a prize for winning first place in a 1928 fiddle contest, he recommended Hurt to Okeh Records producer Tommy Rockwell. After auditioning Monday Morning Blues at his home, he took part in two recording sessions, in Memphis and New York City (see Discography below).[8] While in Memphis, Hurt recalled seeing many, many blues singers ... Lonnie Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Bessie Smith, and lots, lots more.[7] Hurt described his first recording session as such: a great big hall with only the three of us in it: me, the man [Rockwell], and the engineer. It was really something. I sat on a chair, and they pushed the microphone right up to my mouth and told me that I couldnt move after they had found the right position. I had to keep my head absolutely still. Oh, I was nervous, and my neck was sore for days after.[7] Hurt attempted further negotiations with Okeh to record again, but after the commercial failure of the resulting records, and Okeh Records going out of business during the Great Depression, Hurt returned to Avalon and obscurity, working as a sharecropper and playing local parties and dances.[5] Rediscovery Grave of Mississippi John Hurt After Hurts renditions of Frankie and Spike Driver Blues were included in The Anthology of American Folk Music in 1952, and an Australian man discovered a copy of Avalon Blues, there became increased interest in finding Hurt himself.[9] In 1963, a folk musicologist, Tom Hoskins, supervised by Richard Spottswood, was able to locate Hurt near Avalon, Mississippi using the lyrics of Avalon Blues Avalon, my home town, always on my mind/Avalon, my home town. While in Avalon, Hoskins convinced an apprehensive Hurt to perform several songs for him, to ensure that he was genuine.[9] Hoskins was convinced, and seeing that Hurts guitar playing skills were still intact, Hoskins encouraged him to move to Washington, D.C., and begin performing on a wider stage. His performance at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival saw his star rise amongst the new folk revival audience.[5] Before his death he played extensively in colleges, concert halls, coffee houses and on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, as well as recording three further albums for Vanguard Records.[5] Much of his repertoire was recorded for the Library of Congress, also. His fans particularly liked the ragtime songs Salty Dog and Candy Man, and the blues ballads Spike Driver Blues (a variant of John Henry) and Frankie.[5] Hurts influence spanned several music genres including blues, spirituals, country, bluegrass, folk and contemporary rock and roll. A soft-spoken man, his nature was reflected in the work, which consisted of a mellow mix of country, blues and old time music.[8] Hurt died on November 2, 1966, of a heart attack in Grenada, Mississippi.[10] Style Hurt incorporated a fast, syncopated fingerpicking style that he taught himself. He was influenced by very few people; but did recall an elderly, unrecorded, blues singer from that area, Rufus Hanks, who played twelve-string guitar and harmonica.[7] He also recalled listening to the country singer Jimmie Rodgers. On occasion, Hurt would use an open tuning and a slide, as he did in his arrangement of The Ballad of Casey Jones.[7][9] According to music critic Robert Christgau, the school of John Fahey proceeded from his finger-picking, and while hes not the only quietly conversational singer in the modern folk tradition, no one else has talked the blues with such delicacy or restraint.[11] Tributes The Mississippi John Hurt Museum in Avalon, Mississippi There is now a memorial in Avalon, Mississippi for Mississippi John Hurt. It is parallel to RR2, the rural road on which he grew up. American singer-songwriter Tom Paxton, who met Hurt and played on the same bill as him at the Gaslight in Greenwich Village around 1963, wrote and recorded a song about him in 1977 entitled Did You Hear John Hurt? Paxton still frequently plays this song at his live performances. The first track of John Faheys 1968 solo acoustic guitar album Requia is entitled Requiem For John Hurt. Faheys posthumous live album The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick also features a version of the piece, there entitled Requiem For Mississippi John Hurt. British folk/blues artist Wizz Jones recorded a tribute song called Mississippi John for his 1977 album Magical Flight. Delta blues artist Rory Block recorded an album called Avalon - A Tribute to Mississippi John Hurt released in 2013 as part of her Mentor Series.[6]
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 14:08:27 +0000
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