Mississippi John Hurt
John Smith Hurt, better known as Mississippi John Hurt ( born March 8, 1892 in Teoc, Carroll County, Mississippi, † November 2, 1966 in Grenada, Mississippi) was an influential blues singer and guitarist.
Life
Raised in Avalon, Mississippi John Hurt learned with about 10 years of playing guitar. During his youth he often played for his friends and dance events. His livelihood earned Hurt as farm workers.
In 1916 he was Gleisbauarbeiter for five months. Here he learned from a caller named Walter Jackson an a cappella version of the captured later Spike Driver Blues - a variant of the ballad John Henry - know.
John Hurt played music on one occasion with the fiddle player Willie Narmour, who recommended him for Okeh Records. As a result, Hurt had two recording sessions in 1928 for the record label, namely in February in Memphis, Tennessee, and in December in New York. On this occasion, the "Mississippi " was placed before the name of the performer of the managers of the record company for promotional reasons. Originally only seven titles were published that were commercially very successful, however. Just as with many other musicians also ended the Great Depression his career as a musician for a long time. Hurt disappeared from the public and again worked as a farmer and farm workers. He also continued to play as an entertainment musicians at local events.
In the 1950s and early 1960s, it came to the U.S. under the " folk revival " to a renewed interest in the early folk, blues and country recordings from the 1920s. 1963 heard the music researcher Tom Hoskins the recorded in 1928 Avalon Blues by John Hurt. On the basis of the text Hoskins could suggest that it was the home of the musician at Avalon: " Avalon's my home town / Always on my mind ... " At this time it was not known where and whether the musician was still alive. Since then the current map location Avalon uncharted, Hoskins made the village with the help of historical maps locate. He could track Hurt and persuaded him to new recordings, which were recorded in Washington. In the same year Hurt also appeared at the Newport Folk Festival on.
Then enjoyed Mississippi John Hurt during his last three years of life is an enormous popularity, played in concert halls, universities and bars, and recorded several albums. The musician died at the age of 75 on November 2, 1966 due to a heart attack.
Work
Mississippi John Hurt is regarded as well-known representative of the country blues, in particular the stylistic variant of the Delta Blues. His style is described as a subtle mix of blues, folk, ragtime and bluegrass. Typical of his music are his virtuosic fingerpicking guitar playing, the ability of a bass line while playing melody and rhythm accompaniment, and be light and friendly acting singing.
Some of the composed and interpreted by Hurt titles are among the standards in the blues genre, such as who has become a classic ragtime song Candy Man. Among its successes is also that of countless other artists later also interpreted song Stagger Lee to count. The based on a true story tale of a murder in a saloon in 1895 exists in different text versions, but the first recorded by Hurt in 1928 is still regarded as the "official version ".
Mississippi John Hurt was recorded in 1988 in the Blues Hall of Fame.
Discography (selection)
- Avalon Blues: The Complete 1928 OKeh Recordings ( 1996) ( Columbia Roots N 'Blues reissue)
(Genre assignment: Blues: 1st, 5th, 6th, 9th, 12th, Ragtime: 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 8th; : Spiritual: 10, 11; Railroad song 13 ) The completely same compilation appeared already (probably ) 1971 Spokane Records under the title The Original 1928 Recordings.
- Today! (1966) ( Vanguard )
- Last Sessions ( 1966) ( Vanguard )
- The Immortal Mississippi John Hurt ( 1967) ( Vanguard )
( These three albums Vanguard released on this label in 2000 as a collected edition under the title The Complete Studio Recordings. )