Mississippi John Hurt

File:John-hurt.jpg

Mississippi John Hurt.

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

Early years

Hurt was born in Teoc, Mississippi and was the eighth of ten children. His parrents were Paul Hurt and Mae Jane Smith. Hurt learned to appreciate guitar music from William H Carson, boyfriend of his teacher at the St. James School, in Avalon, Mississippi. He began learning the guitar at the age of nine. Hurt stated, "I wasn't allowed to bother Mr. Carson's guitar. I would wait until he feel asleep at my house, then I would slip his guitar into my room and try to play... After that, my mother bought me a second hand guitar at the price of $1.50."

He spent much of his youth playing old time music for friends and dances. In 1916, he married Gertrude Hoskins. They had two children: T.C. (born April 1, 1919) and Ida Mae (born June 26, 1921). John and Gertrude separated shortly after the birth of Ida Mae. Later, John became the father of another child John William, with his common law wife, Jesse Lee Cole.

Although her earned a living as a farm hand into the 1920s, Hurt continued playing for dances in his spare time, usually partnering with fiddle player Shell Smith. In 1923 he also played often with the fiddle player Willie Narmour. When Narmour got a chance to record for OKeh Records in reward for winning first place in a 1928 fiddle contest, Narmour recommended Hurt to OKeh producer Tommy Rockwell. After auditioning "Monday Morning Blues" at his home, Hurt took part in two recording sessions. The first, in Memphis, recorded eight sides, only two of which were release. The "Mississippi" tag was added to his name around this time by OKeh. The second session took place in New York City and included several of the songs for which Hurt later became well known, such as "Candy Man," and "Spike Driver Blues." (See Discography below). The resulting recordings, howeer, did not sell well, and OKeh records soon went out of business during the depression.

Hurt returned to Avalon and obscurity, working as a sharecropper and playing local parties and dances. It would be more than three decades before he would record again.

Comeback

In 1963, a folk musicologist Tom Hoskins, inspired by the OKeh recordings, was able to locate John Hurt near Avalon, Mississippi. He was not easy to find. Hoskins noticed that Hurt sang of "Avalon, my home town," but was not able to locate the tiny town until he found it on an old atlas. At 71 years of age, Hurt's his guitar playing skills still intact, and his voice was as charming as ever. 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, Hurt's new career could hardly have been better timed. A stellar performance at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival saw his star rise among the new "folk revival" audience, and Hurt soon was busy playing at colleges, concert halls, coffee houses, and even on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson/

For three years until his death, Mississippi John Hurt was a star after a lifetime of toil as a manual laborer.

Vanguard released a new album, Today! in 1966. A impressive live recording of a concert at Oberlin College in April of 1965 was released under the title The Best of Mississippi John Hurt featuring 21 songs. The Immortal Mississippi John Hurt, was released posthumously, as was the Last Sessions album. To the end, Hurt's voice and guitar and guitar playing remained remarkably strong.

Style

John Hurt's guitar and singing style was atypical of the usual Mississippi bluesman. Both his guitar play and his voice expressed a sweet, melodic quality, and he was as comfortable with rag-time and religious songs as with traditional blues. Unlike some blues players, his vocalization wre clearly enunciated and melodic. In many ways, he was a throw-back to the earliest days of southern music when black and white musicians played together in bands for whomever cared to listen and dance, as evidenced, for example by his early career partnering with fiddlers.

Hurt's guitar playing is particularly accessible to young players because of its clarity and emphasis on melody. He tended to play full, ringing, individual notes rather than damping his chords for rhymic effects or using a slide. His solo to "Candy Man" is a classic, which has been mastered and imitated by thousands of young finger-pickers. Country-folk master Doc Watson brought Hurt's style to wide audiences when he covered "Spike Driver Blues" and other Hurt songs.

Legacy

Mississippi John Hurt left a legacy of character as well as music. In his trademark bowler hat, was a soft-spoken, humble man whose wrinkled face lit up when he smiled. Unlike many bluesmen, his music was often uplifting and light-hearted, even when he was singing about toiling on a railroad or grabbing "a gun and shoot my Susie." After his rediscovery, he became more popular that of the other "new" old bluemen, included stars that had easily eclipsed him in the old days such as Son House and Skip James. He had never been particularly ambitious, and he accepted fame and adultation with remarkable grace.

Part of his later popularity stemmed from the universality of his music, which was never stricly limited to the blues. However, equally important was who he was as a person, warm, unpretentious, and liked by all. 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.

Media

Nobody's Dirty Business (file info) Louis Collins (file info) Problems listening to the files? See media help.

Discography

Avalon Blues

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

Also released as Mississippi John Hurt: 1928 Sessions (Yazoo 1065, Yazoo Records)

Frankie Nobody's Dirty Business Ain't No Tellin' Louis Collins Avalon Blues Big Leg Blues Stack O' Lee

Candy Man Blues Got The Blues (Can't Be Satisfied) Blessed Be The Name Praying On The Old Camp Ground Blue Harvest Blues Spike Driver Blues

Last Sessions - 1966

(Vanguard)

Long Ways From Home Boys, You're Welcome Joe Turner Blues First Shot Missed Him Farther Along Funky Butt Spider, Spider Waiting For You Shortnin' Bread

Trouble, I've Had It All My Days Let The Mermaids Flirt With Me Good Morning, Carrie Nobody Cares For Me All Night Long Hey, Honey, Right Away You've Got To Die Goodnight Irene

Worried Blues

(Piedmont PLP 13161)

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

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

(Vanguard VSD-79220)

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

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

Mississippi John Hurt Last Sessions

(Vanguard VSD-79327)

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

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

(Vanguard VSD-19/20) Recorded live at Oberlin College April 15, 1965

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

Sliding delta Monday morning blues Richland women blues Candy man Stagolee My creole belle CC rider Spanish Fandango Talking casey Chicken You are my sunshine

The Candy Man

(Quicksilver QS 5042)

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

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

Volume One of a Legacy

(Piedmont CLPS 1068)

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

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

=Folk Songs and Blues

(Piedmont PLP 13757)

Avalon blues Richland woman blues Spike driver blues Salty dog Cow hooking blues Spanish Fandang

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

External links

• Mississippi John Hurt Museum
• Illustrated Mississippi John Hurt discography
• Vanguard Record's short biography of Mississippi John Hurt
• Video of John Hurt's Gravesite

Credits

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