MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT, 1964 LP: WORRIED BLUES: VOL II of ORIG PIEDMONT REC 13161

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Mississippi John Hurt, 1964  lp

John Smith Hurt (March 8, 1893– November 2, 1966), known as Mississippi John Hurt, was an American country blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist.

In 1952, musicologist Harry Smith included John's version of "Frankie and Johnny" and "Spike Driver Blues" in his seminal collection The Anthology of American Folk Music which generated considerable interest in locating him. When a copy of his "Avalon Blues" was discovered in 1963, it led musicologist Dick Spottswood to locate Avalon, Mississippi on a map and ask his friend, Tom Hoskins, who was traveling that way, to enquire after Hurt.

Avalon, my home town, always on my mind / Avalon, my home town.

Upon locating Hurt, Hoskins persuaded him to perform several songs, to ensure that he was genuine. Hoskins was convinced and, seeing that Hurt's guitar playing skills were still intact, encouraged him to move to Washington, D.C., and perform for a broader audience. Early in 1963 Hurt recorded an album, Folk Songs and Blues, that was released in August 1963 through Piedmont Records.

This added to the American folk music revival which was blooming at that time and inspired the search for and the rediscovery of many other bluesmen of Hurt's era such as Son House, Skip James, Bukka White, Mance Lipscomb and Lightnin' Hopkins. Hurt performed on the festival, university and coffeehouse concert circuits with other Delta blues musicians who were brought out of retirement. His performances in 1963 at the Newport Folk Festival and the Philadelphia Folk Festival caused his star to rise.[8] In 1964, he recorded live for radio station WTBS-FM In Cambridge, Massachusetts as did Skip James.

Hurt's influence spanned several music genres including blues, spirituals, country, bluegrass, folk, and contemporary rock and roll. A soft-spoken man, his nature reflected his work which was a mellow mix of country, blues, and old-time music.

Hurt used a syncopated finger picking style of guitar playing that he taught himself. He was influenced by few other musicians, among them was Rufus Hanks, an elderly, unrecorded blues singer from the Avalon area who played twelve-string guitar and harmonica.

According to the music critic Robert Christgau, "the school of John Fahey proceeded from his finger picking and while he's not the only quietly conversational singer in the modern folk tradition, no one else has talked the blues with such delicacy or restraint." Courtesy: Wikipedia

Note: These performances were recorded live in 1964 at the Ontario Place Cafe' Gallerie in Washington, D.C.

 Here's What You'll Get: (grading is for record first, then jacket) 

Worried Blues    Mississippi John Hurt      Piedmont   PLP 13161     1964    VG+/G

Nice Copy - Don't Pass It By!

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