Jan 27 2011

Branded as: Music | Video

Love this version of Mississippi John Hurt’s Spike Driver’s Blues. It was recorded on Pete Seeger’s Rainbow Quest, a show dedicated to traditional American music that aired from 1965 - 1966. In fact I think I may even prefer it to the version found on Hurt’s 1966 album, Mississippi John Hurt Today! By the way, the vinyl reissue of that album from Pure Pleasure Records - outstanding.

Aside from Hurt’s playing and gentle singing one of things I love about him is his story. He recorded a few songs in New York City in 1928 for Okeh Records then effectively disappeared. It would be a further thirty- odd years before he was ‘rediscovered’ by Tom Hoskins, a folk musicologist who tracked Hurt down in Avalon Mississippi by listening to the lyrics of "Avalon Blues". Hoskins convinced Hurt (now aged 70) to make his way back up north and begin performing again which he did extensively until his death three years later. In that very short time he recorded three albums, appeared on the Tonight Show (would love to have a clip of that) and generally became a bit of a legend in the folk music scene.

As you can hear for yourself in the clip above his was a gentle style and he infused his music with real charm, soul and humour. In the clip below (again from Rainbow Quest), Hurt describes how he first learned to play.

Side Note: John’s granddaughter Mary Hurt-Wright looks after The Mississippi John Hurt Blues Foundation and its goals of preserving his legacy and introducing disadvantaged children to a musical style they might otherwise never know is a noble one so hop over and donate if you can.