Mississippi John Hurt
Live
Vanguard 79702-2

by Reid Mitchell

When I was a youth, everybody I knew who tried to play blues guitar had a Mississippi John Hurt album, usually The Best of Mississippi John Hurt, in their collection, just like they had something by Robert Johnson. I have to believe it's the same now, both for guitar players and for anybody interested in roots music. If you don't, you can start right now--right now! do not wait till the end of this review!--with Live.

If you do, however, stay your hand a little. Live is a re-mastered Best of Mississippi John Hurt with three new tracks. The earlier album consisted of a concert recorded in April, 1965 at Oberlin College. Live is that concert with three previously unreleased tracks from the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. If you've already upgraded your Best of Mississippi John Hurt to cd, you might just save yourself a few dollars. Spent them instead on getting one of the several cds that contain the 1928 recordings--because as good as he was in 1965, he was better in 1928.

Mississippi John Hurt was the most genial of bluesmen. He first appeared on the scene--barely--in 1928, with a handful of recordings for Okeh Records. Artistic successes and worth seeking out, they were also flops. Rolling Stone writer Ed Ward suggests that Hurt's music was in a sense out-of-date even in the 1920s; according to Ward, Hurt played ragtime not blues. In any case, John Hurt returned to share-cropping in Mississippi.

In 1963, a folk revivalist named Tom Hoskins knocked on John Hurt's door. Because of those obscure 1928 recordings, Hurt had become one of the many country bluesmen sought out by folkies. Mississippi John was seventy-one years old. Yet between 1963 and his death in 1966, he achieve fame, playing the Newport Festival twice and touring.

Cynics might argue that tiny Mississippi John Hurt's size and gentle manners made him the perfect bluesman for the largely white folk music revival to adopt--sort of a rural Yoda or an African-American E.T. According to Rory Block, who knew Hurt during the revival, he seemed shy and bewildered, not quite sure why so many white kids wanted to hear his music. But John Hurt's sweet dignity put a stop to any condescension on the part of his new white fans.

Certainly the Reverend Gary Davis preached harder and Fred McDowell was more unyielding; both of these singers dug into a song while Hurt's voice floated over his nimble, melodic finger-picking. As many have commented, there was an ease, a relaxation in Hurt's music. He played like nobody else--although now lots of people play like him.

You can try too. Just remember--it's harder than it sounds.

*Vanguard has a site on John Hurt: www.vanguardrecords.com/Hurt/home-m.html
Also check out the Mudcat's site on Hurt at www.mudcat.org/hurt.cfm
Another fine site with a good number of links is at www.mindspring.com/~dennist/
There are several cds with the 1928 recordings. Some people reckon that Legacy's Avalon Blues: the Complete 1928 Okeh Recordings is the best.
Peter Guralnick's novel Nighthawk Blues is out-of-print but it offers an occasionally satiric, ultimately affectionate portrayal of the relationship between a "rediscovered" bluesman and his young white manager.


Contact Reid Mitchell at: reid-at-rockzilla.net

 
Read Rockzilla's Guestbook
Sign Rockzilla's Guestbook