Mississippi John Hurt

Genres:	Blues
Descriptive "tags":	blues • delta blues • folk • classic blues • acoustic
Decades Active:	1960s • 1980s • 1990s • 2000s
Links online:	IMDb • Wikipedia

Biography

John Smith Hurt, 3 July 1893, Teoc, Mississippi, USA, d. 2 November 1966, Grenada, Mississippi, USA. One of the major ‘rediscoveries’ during the 60s folk blues revival, Mississippi John Hurt began playing at informal gatherings and parties at the turn of the century, when guitars were still relatively uncommon. Although he worked within the idiom, Hurt did not regard himself as a blues singer and his relaxed, almost sweet, intonation contrasted with the aggressive approaches of many contemporaries. In 1928 he recorded two sessions for OKeh Records. These early masters included ‘Candy Man Blues’, ‘Louis Collins’ and ‘Ain’t No Tellin’ (aka ‘A Pallet On The Floor’), songs that were equally redolent of the ragtime tradition.

For the ensuing three decades, Hurt worked as a farm-hand, reserving music for social occasions. His seclusion ended in 1963. Armed with those seminal OKeh recordings, a...

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