Mississippi John Hurt was reportedly born in Carroll County, Mississippi on July 3, 1893. But some sources, including his gravestone, say his date of birth is March 8, 1892.
Born in the nineteenth century less than thirty years after the end of the Civil War, Hurt lived to see the start of the Civil Rights movement, giving us some fantastic music along the way.
Hurt first recorded in the late 1920s, but his music found no audience. And then the record company went out of business during The Great Depression. So, Hurt returned to work as a sharecropper in Avalon, Mississippi.
But new fans discovered Hurt when his recordings of “Frankie” and “Spike Driver Blues” appeared in Harry Smith’s collection The Anthology of American Folk Music in 1952. And in 1963, music collector Tom Hoskins found Hurt based on Hurt’s song “Avalon,” which referred to his hometown.
Hoskins convinced Hurt to return to performing. Hurt’s performance at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival helped re-launch his career. He performed across the country, appeared on television, and recorded new albums.
Hurt’s musical style crossed different genres, including blues and folk. He played his guitar with a unique syncopated fingerpicking style that he taught himself.
Below is a fantastic 1965 recording of Mississippi John Hurt singing “Lonesome Valley” on folksinger Pete Seeger’s TV program, Rainbow Quest.
Hurt got to enjoy his new success for a handful of years, dying in November 2, 1966. But, man, we are lucky he found his way back from obscurity.
A number of collections collect his music from both eras of his career. One of my favorites is the 2-CD set that collects his 1960s recordings, The Complete Studio Recordings Mississippi John Hurt
What is your favorite Mississippi John Hurt song? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
