![]() ![]() ![]() Lonnie Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Bessie Smith, and lots, lots more." Hurt described his first recording session: ![]() While in Memphis, he recalled seeing "many, many blues singers. After auditioning "Monday Morning Blues" at his home, Hurt took part in two recording sessions, in Memphis and New York City. When Narmour got a chance to record for Okeh Records as a prize for winning first place in a 1928 fiddle contest, he recommended Hurt to Okeh producer Tommy Rockwell. Hurt recalled that one wanted to hire him: "One of them wanted me, but I said no because I just never wanted to get away from home." In 1923, he played with the fiddle player Willie Narmour as a substitute for Narmour's regular partner, Shell Smith. On occasion, a medicine show came through the area. His fast, highly syncopated style of playing was meant for dancing. He worked as a farmhand and sharecropper into the 1920s. As a youth, he played old-time music for friends and at dances. He taught himself to play guitar at the age of nine, stealthily playing the guitar of William Henry Carson, a friend of his mother Mary Jane's, who often stayed at the Hurt home while courting a woman who lived nearby. Hurt was born in Teoc, Carroll County, Mississippi, and raised in Avalon, Mississippi. His songs have been recorded by Bob Dylan, Dave Van Ronk, Jerry Garcia, Beck, Doc Watson, John McCutcheon, Taj Mahal, Bruce Cockburn, David Johansen, Bill Morrissey, Gillian Welch, The Be Good Tanyas, Josh Ritter, Chris Smither, Guthrie Thomas, Parsonsfield, and Rory Block. Material recorded by him has been re-released by many record labels. Hurt returned to Grenada in 1966, where he died at the age of 73. He also recorded several albums for Vanguard Records. Hurt performed on the university and coffeehouse concert circuit with other Delta blues musicians who were brought out of retirement. This helped further the American folk music revival, which led to the rediscovery of many other bluesmen of Hurt's era. He was recorded by the Library of Congress in 1964. His first recordings, made for Okeh Records in 1928, were commercial failures, and he continued to work as a farmer.ĭick Spottswood and Tom Hoskins, a blues enthusiast, located Hurt in 1963 and persuaded him to move to Washington, D.C. He worked as a sharecropper and began playing at dances and parties, singing to a melodious fingerpicked accompaniment. Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, Hurt taught himself to play the guitar around the age of nine. John Smith Hurt (Ma – November 2, 1966), better known as Mississippi John Hurt, was an American country blues singer and guitarist. ![]()
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