# Mississippi John Hurt – Blues singer, guitarist, harmonica player: Video

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2018/03/08/mississippi-john-hurt-blues/
- Published: 2018-03-08T00:02:21+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**08.03. – Happy Birthday !!! Mississippi John Hurt – Blues singer, guitarist, harmonica
player (1893 – 1966)**

Mississippi John Hurt was a blues musician known for his unique fingerpicking technique
and soft-spoken songs that combined gospel inspiration and an acoustic folk sound.
He was first recorded in 1928, but was forgotten until the early 1960’s, when he
was embraced by a new generation of blues aficionados and musicians alike.

Born July 3, 1893, in Teoc, Mississippi, Hurt and his family moved in 1895 to Avalon,
a town on the edge of Mississippi’s hill country. He dropped out of school at the
age of nine to begin working as a farmer. In 1902, Hurt picked up the guitar, a 
$1.50 “Black Annie” his mother bought him. Self-taught, Hurt developed a distinctive
three-finger style that bears no resemblance to other area musicians. He also developed
proficiency with the harmonica but was always a self-accompanied musician. Unlike
Furry Lewis and Memphis Minnie, Hurt refused an offer to accompany a traveling medicine
show, preferring to stay close to home.

Hurt played solo at local parties where his fluid yet highly syncopated guitar style
made him a favorite among Carroll County dancers. His fame was localized, however;
it was not until 1912 that he started playing parties around Jackson, Mississippi,
103 miles from his native Avalon. While Hurt worked mostly outside music as a farmer
and laborer, his musical reputation among whites as well as blacks led to his first
recording session in Memphis in 1928. Willie T. Narmour and Shell W. Smith, two 
white country musicians from Carroll County, recommended him to their record producer,
Tommy Rockwell.

Hurt recorded eight sides for the Okeh label, two of which were released and sold
well: “Frankie” and “Nobody’s Dirty Business.” In Memphis for the same recording
session was St. Louis guitarist/pianist Lonnie Johnson, and Hurt later recalled 
that Blind Lemon Jefferson and Bessie Smith were also in town. He saw none of these
famous musicians play but instead returned home to Avalon. Okeh called Hurt to New
York City for another session in December 1928, where he cut twelve additional sides,
including “Avalon Blues.” Again, Hurt returned home to Avalon to farm and play music
for local parties.

These two sessions were the extent of Hurt’s recording before the Great Depression
curtailed record sales. His graceful picking, gentle crooning, and homespun lyrics
marked him as an exceptionally talented musician. The preponderance of songs about
legendary figures in his repertoire (”Casey Jones,” “Frankie,” “Stack O’Lee Blues”)
and the lack of then-modern blues influences on his style, establish Hurt as a link
between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Okeh originally designated two of
his songs “Old Time Music,” an appellation reserved for the label’s hillbilly series.
This, together with the fact that white musicians were familiar with and recommended
his musicianship, suggests strongly that Hurt’s music sprang from a common source
that produced blues and country music.

Hurt lived a quiet life as a farmer and laborer, playing occasional parties and 
fish fries until 1963. He was rediscovered in Avalon, a consequence of having named
it as his hometown in a record made thirty-five years before. Hurt enjoyed great
popularity during the blues revival of the 1960s, making television appearances,
playing folk festivals, and recording albums. His mid ‘60’s sessions for Vanguard
are highly regarded as prime examples of pure Delta Blues.

Hurt’s dexterity as a guitarist, coupled with his plain-spoken nature, took away
from his following as a popular blues artist, at the time. His playing was too soft
and articulate, and his voice too plain to be appreciate in a large setting, such
as a dance; his music was best heard in small, intimate gatherings. His excellent
guitar playing and his gentle, home-spun folk style, full of good humor and unlike
that of any other Delta bluesman, brought him three years of stardom at the end 
of his life. Mississippi John Hurt left behind a legacy unique in the annals of 
the blues, and not just in terms of music. A humble, hard-working man who never 
sought fame or fortune from his music, and who conducted his life in an honest and
honorable manner, he also avoided the troubles that afflicted the lives of many 
of his more tragic fellow musicians.

He felt no bitterness over his late-in-life mass success, and as a result continued
to please and win over new listeners with his recordings until virtually the last
weeks of his life. He actually retired from the music business because of the legal
entanglements of his new career. Nothing he ever recorded was less than inspired,
and most of it was superb.

No blues singer ever presented a gentler, genial image than Mississippi John Hurt.
He was a beautiful human being, father, grandfather, church member, and gentleman
who died peacefully on November 2, 1966. Mississippi John Hurt’s grave is located
outside his hometown of Avalon, Mississippi.

![Image result for Mississippi John Hurt](https://i0.wp.com/www.wallofsoundgallery.
com/immagini_prodotti/arch/3113.jpg?w=640)

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