The story of original Delta Blues guitarist Mississippi John Hurt is one of mystery and heartbreak. In 1928 he made a groundbreaking record of many Delta Blues tunes and then the Great Depression struck and all the music stopped and he disappeared.
John had to give up his music career to earn a living, so he became a
farmhand in Avalon, Mississippi. He worked the land until he happened
to be rediscovered by a book researcher during the the American Blues
revival in the late 1960s.
Look no further than John to find the direct inspiration for Blues guitarists like Keb Mo’.
Can you imagine living a repressed life for 35 years from one recording to the next? We lost over three decades of recorded music making from Mississippi John — and while that dead stretch of his life may have enhanced his talent — it more likely didn’t make him any better or more
inspired.
When an economy sours, the Artist in society suffers first and most and longest.
Here is Mississippi John singing “Lonesome Valley” on a 1960′s television show and his Delta Blues fingerpicking style is so beautiful and enchanting that it makes you cry a little:
Mississippi John Hurt is one of my favorite musical inspirations. His
Blues is pure. His heart is golden. His fingers spin his heartache
into our
fairy tales.
That’s really powerful music, David. Thank you for sharing it with us.
I closed my eyes while listening to the music. this is truly a gem. What a loss for the world for 35 years.
Powerful and sweet, Gordon. That is the magic of Mississippi John Hurt.
He was lost for a generation and a half. We needed him in the history of American music during those lost years to save us from our national demons.