Description
Label Review.
13 blues tracks recorded in 1928.
Our Overview.
Early American country blues legend, guitarist and singer John Smith Hurt - aka Mississippi John Hurt - with his beautifully refined guitar fingerpicking style and gentle voice, had a truly unique interpretation of the blues which was rooted in the bygone songster and ragtime traditions.
Leaving behind a legacy of great songs, these beautifully remastered 1928 recordings show why he influenced many great musicians during the folk/blues revival in the 60’s including Bob Dylan, Dave Van Ronk and Taj Mahal. And many more have recorded his songs: Jerry Garcia, Bob Dylan, Beck, Doc Watson, John McCutcheon, Taj Mahal, Bruce Cockburn, David Johansen, Bill Morrissey, Gillian Welch, Guthrie Thomas and Rory Block.
Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, Hurt taught himself how to play the guitar age nine. Singing to a a leodious finger-picked accompaniment, he began to play local dances and parties whilst workingas a sharecropper. He first recorded for Okeh Records in 1928, but these were commercial failures. Hurt then drifted out of the recording scene, and he continued his work as a farmer. Tom Hoskins, a blues enthusiast, would be the first to locate Hurt in 1963. He convinced Hurt to relocate to Washington, D.C., where he was recorded by the Library Of Congress in 1964. This rediscovery helped further the American folk music revival which had led to the rediscovery of many other bluesmen of Hurt's era. Hurt entered the same university and coffee house concert circuit as his contemporaries, as well as other Delta blues musicians brought out of retirement. As well as playing concerts, he recorded several studio albums for Vanguard Records.
Undoubtedly one of the greatest and most influential of all of the pre-war country blues artists, this collection includes the legendary murder ballads ‘Stack O’ Lee Blues’ and ‘Louis Collins’. Mississippi John Hurt is forever immortalised in these classic country blues recordings.
Tracks:
1. Frankie
2. Louis Collins
3. Stack O’ Lee Blues
4. Ain’t No Tellin’
5. Spike Driver Blues
6. Avalon Blues
7. Nobody’s Dirty Business
8. Candy Man Blues
9. Blessed Be The Name
10. Big Leg Blues
11. Got The Blues, Can’t Be Satisfied
12. BlueHarvest Blues
13. Praying On The Old Camp Ground