The son of former enslaved people, John Smith Hurt was born in Teoc, Mississippi, in 1893. He grew up and lived in nearby Avalon, which is an important detail. He began playing guitar and singing as a child, eventually performing at local parties while working as a sharecropper. In 1928, he recorded 20 sides for Okeh Records — founded in 1918 by the German-Jewish immigrant Otto (Yehuda) Heinemann — at studios in New York and Memphis. By the time Hurt recorded, Okeh had been purchased by Columbia, which marketed, along with much else, a series of so-called "race" records for African American audiences. It was a Columbia producer who added "Mississippi" to John Hurt's name for marketing purposes.
Hurt's records did not sell very well — although the Watson family of Deep Gap, North Carolina, evidently bought several that influenced their son Arthel, later known as Doc — and Okeh declined to to re-sign Hurt for another session. He remained in Avalon, working as a sharecropper and playing at parties. One of his 1928 cuts was included in a folk music anthology in the early 1950s, but Hurt was obscure and seemingly unlocatable. In 1963, however, the musicologist Richard Spottswood realized that Hurt's "Avalon Blues" was a reference to Avalon, Mississippi. He tracked him down, with the help of a friend, and Mississippi John Hurt's second career was launched at age 70. Sadly, Hurt would live only another three years, making live appearances at festivals and in clubs, only a few of which were filmed, and recording several albums. Don't miss the short documentary and the story of his first recordings at the bottom of the post.
"Avalon Blues," recorded in New York in 1928, which became the key to his "rediscovery":
My favorite:
From the 1928 Okeh sessions:
Donovan and Joan Baez enjoying a short clip of the same song at a Newport workshop in 1965:
Also from 1928, this became on of his signature tunes in the '60s:
This song shows how much Hurt was influenced by country music, especially Jimmie Rodgers (check this out), which is not usually recognized:
Documentary:
The story of his first recordings:
At the height of the folk craze the Kingston Trio redid You Got To Walk That Lonesome Valley as The Reverend Mr. Black https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjtlYAjJCWA
In the 1950s and '60 in Chicago, radio station WFMT departed from its classical format every Saturday night with a folk music show called The Midnight Special. It ended at midnight, always with "The Lonesome Valley" by Richard Dyer-Bennet: https://youtu.be/KD7N1DMCxV0?list=RDKD7N1DMCxV0
Hurt’s alternating finger-picking style influenced millions of guitar players who found it easy, relaxing, steady and soothing. Not just the famous and exceptional musicians like Doc Watson and Keb’ Mo, but ordinary folkies around the campfire.