Mississippi John Hurt

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"Mississippi" John Smith Hurt (March 8, 1892 [1], Teoc, Carroll County, Mississippi - November 2, 1966, Grenada, Mississippi) was an influential blues singer and guitarist.

Mississippi John Hurt (left) and Skip James
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Mississippi John Hurt (left) and Skip James

Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, he learned to play guitar at age 9. He spent much of his youth playing old time music for friends and dances, earning a living as a farm hand into the 1920s. In 1923 he often partnered with the fiddle player Willie Narmour (Carroll County Blues) as a substitute for his regular partner Shell Smith. When Narmour got a chance to record for OKeh Records in reward for winning first place in a 1928 fiddle contest, Narmour recommended John 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). The "Mississippi" tag was added by OKeh as a sales gimmick. After the commercial failure of the resulting disc and OKeh records going out of business during the depression, Hurt returned to Avalon and obscurity working as a sharecropper and playing local parties and dances.

In 1963, however, a folk musicologist named Tom Hoskins, inspired by the recordings, was able to locate [2] John Hurt near Avalon, Mississippi. In fact, in an early recording, Hurt sang of "Avalon, my home". With his guitar playing skills still intact, Hoskins encouraged Hurt to move to Washington, DC and begin performing on a wider stage. Whereas his first releases had coincided with the Great Depression, his new career could hardly have been better timed. A stellar performance at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival saw his star rise amongst the new "folk revival" audience, and before his death in 1966 he played extensively in colleges, concert halls, coffee houses and even the Johnny Carson Tonight Show, as well as recording three further albums for Vanguard Records. John Hurt's influence spans several music genres including blues, country, bluegrass, folk and contemporary rock and roll. A soft-spoken man, his nature was reflected in the work, which remained a mellow mix of country, blues and old time music to the end.

Contents

[edit] Media

[edit] Discography

Avalon Blues: The Complete 1928 OKEH Recordings (Columbia Roots N' Blues reissue)

  1. "Frankie" (3:21)- February 24, 1928, Memphis, TN - 400221-B, OK 8560
  2. "Nobody's Dirty Business" (2:52)- February 24, 1928, Memphis - 400223-B, OK 8560
  3. "Ain't No Tellin'" (2:54)- December 21, 1928, New York City, NY - 401471-A, OK 8560
  4. "Louis Collins" (2:57)- December 21, 1928, NYC - 401472-A, OK 8724
  5. "Avalon Blues" (3:01)- December 21, 1928, NYC - 401473-B, OK 8759
  6. "Big Leg Blues" (2:50)- December 21, 1928, NYC - 401474-B, unissued
  7. "Stack O' Lee" (2:55)- December 28, 1928, NYC - 401481-B, OK 8654
  8. "Candy Man Blues" (2:44)- December 28, 1928, NYC - 401483-B, OK 8654
  9. "Got The Blues (Can't Be Satisfied)" (2:49)- Dec 28, 1928, NYC- 401484-B, OK 8734
  10. "Blessed Be The Name" (2:46)- December 28, 1928, NYC - 401485-B, OK 8666
  11. "Praying On The Old Camp Ground" (2:35)- Dec 28 1928, NYC- 401486-B, OK 8666
  12. "Blue Harvest Blues" (2:51)- December 28, 1928 NYC - 401487-A, OK 8692
  13. "Spike Driver Blues" [3] (3:13)- December 28, 1928 NYC - 401488, OK 8692

Last Sessions - 1966 (Vanguard)

  1. "Poor Boy, Long Ways From Home"
  2. "Boys, You're Welcome"
  3. "Joe Turner Blues"
  4. "First Shot Missed Him"
  5. "Farther Along"
  6. "Funky Butt"
  7. "Spider, Spider"
  8. "Waiting For You"
  9. "Shortnin' Bread"
  10. "Trouble, I've Had It All My Days"
  11. "Let The Mermaids Flirt With Me"
  12. "Good Morning, Carrie"
  13. "Nobody Cares For Me"
  14. "All Night Long"
  15. "Hey, Honey, Right Away"
  16. "You've Got To Die"
  17. "Goodnight Irene"

Mississippi John Hurt 1928 Sessions (Yazoo 1065, Yazoo Records) Side 1

  • Got the blues can’t be satisfied
  • Louis Collins
  • Blue Harvest Blues
  • Avalon Blues
  • Blessed be the name
  • Nobody’s dirty business
  • Frankie

Side 2

  • Ain’t no tellin’
  • Big leg blues
  • Stack O’Lee blues
  • Praying on the old camp ground
  • Spike Driver Blues [3]
  • Candy Man Blues


Worried Blues (Piedmont PLP 13161, Piedmont Records)

Side 1

  • Lazy Blues
  • Farther along
  • Sliding delta
  • Nobody cares for me
  • Cow hooking blues

Side 2

  • Talkin’ Casey Jones
  • Weeping and wailing
  • Worried blues
  • Oh Mary don’t you weep
  • I been cryin’ since you been gone

Mississippi John Hurt Today (VSD-79220, Vanguard Records)

Side 1

  • Payday
  • I’m satisfied
  • Candy man
  • Make me a pallet on the floor
  • Talkin’ Casey Jones
  • Corrinna, Corrinna

Side 2

  • Coffee blues
  • Louis Collins
  • Hot time in the old town tonight
  • If you don’t want me. Baby
  • Spike driver blues [3]
  • Beulah land

Mississippi John Hurt Last Sessions (VSD-79327, Vanguard Records)

Side 1

  • Poor boy long ways from home
  • Boys, you’re welcome
  • Joe Turner blues
  • First shot missed him
  • Farther along
  • Spider, spider
  • Waiting for you
  • Shortnin’ bread

Side 2

  • Trouble, I’ve had it all my days
  • Let the mermaids flirt with me
  • Good mornin’, Carrie
  • Nobody cares for me
  • All night long
  • Hey, Honey, right away
  • You’ve got to die
  • Goodnight, Irene

The Best of Mississippi John Hurt (VSD-19/20, Vanguard Records) Recorded live at Oberlin College April 15, 1965

Side 1

  • Here I am, Oh Lord, send me
  • I shall not be moved
  • Nearer my God to thee
  • Baby what’s wrong with you
  • It ain’t nobody’s business

Side 2

  • Salty dog blues
  • Coffee blues
  • Avalon, my home town
  • Make me a pallet on the floor
  • Since I’ve laid this burden down

Side 1

  • Sliding delta
  • Monday morning blues
  • Richland women blues
  • Candy man
  • Stagolee

Side 2

  • My creole belle
  • CC rider
  • Spanish Fandango
  • Talking casey
  • Chicken
  • You are my sunshine

The Candy Man (QS 5042, Quicksilver Records)

Side 1

  • Richland women blues
  • Trouble, I’ve had it all my days
  • Chicken
  • Coffee blues
  • Monday morning blues

Side 2

  • Frankie and Albert
  • Talking Casey
  • Here I am, Oh Lord, send me
  • Hard time in the old town tonight
  • Spike driver blues [3]

Volume One of a Legacy (CLPS 1068, Piedmont Records)

Side 1

  • Trouble, I’ve had it all my days
  • Pera Lee
  • See See rider
  • Louis Collins
  • Coffee blues
  • Nobody’s dirty business
  • Do Lord remember me
  • Monday morning blues

Side 2

  • Let the mermaids flirt with me
  • Payday
  • Stack-o-lee blues
  • Casey Jones
  • Frankie and Albert

Folk Songs and Blues (PLP 13757, Piedmont Records)

Side 1

  • Avalon blues
  • Richland woman blues
  • Spike driver blues [3]
  • Salty dog
  • Cow hooking blues
  • Spanish Fandang

Side 2

  • Casey Jones
  • Louis Collins
  • Candy Man Blues
  • My Creole belle
  • Liza Jane – God’s unchanging hand
  • Joe Turner blues

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ There is confusion about his date of birth, but the grave mentions this date.
  2. ^ Tom Hoskins was able to find Mississippi John Hurt after listening to the lyrics of Avalon and realising it was written about a place called Avalon. Unable to find Avalon on a recent map, Hoskins searched older and older maps and eventually found it on an atlas from 1878 between Greenwood and Grenada.
  3. ^ a b c d e Spike Driver's Blues is about the Afro-American folk hero John Henry (folklore).

There is now a memorial in Avalon, Mississippi for Mississippi John Hurt. It is parallel to RR2, which is the rural road on which he grew up.

[edit] External links

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