Happy Birthday John Hurt- From Beulah Land- Mississippi John Hurt
CD REVIEW
Last Sessions, Mississippi John Hurt, Vanguard Records, 1972
If one were to ask virtually any fairly established folk music singer in, let’s say 1968, what country blues musician influenced them the most then the subject of this review would win hands down. The list would be long- Dave Van Ronk, Geoff Muldaur, Maria Muldaur, Phil Ochs, Chris Smithers, Joan Baez and on and on. Hell, Tom Paxton wrote a song about him-Did You Hear John Hurt? That song still gets airplay on the folk station around where I live.
So what gives? Why the praise? What gives is this- Mississippi John Hurt and his simple country blues were 'discovered' at a time when many young, mainly white urban musicians were looking for roots music. This search is not anything particularly new-John and Alan Lomax went on the hustings in the 1930’s and recorded many of the old country blues artists that were ‘discovered’ in the 1960’s. Hell, you can go back further to the 1920’s and the record companies themselves were sending out agents to scour the country looking for talent- they found the likes of the Carter Family and Blind Willie McTell along the way.
And what made John Hurt so special? Well, for one, very clean, very simple picking on the old guitar. For another that little raspy voice that you had to perk up your ear to if you wanted to hear him. But the big deal really is that he sang songs in a simple country way that reflected the hard life of the Mississippi delta, the hard work of picking cotton, the hard fact of being black in the Jim Crow South and the hard fact of needing some musical entertainment on a hot Saturday night after a hard week in the fields. The flow changed when the blues headed north to Chicago and got electrified but if you want to hear a master at work when the sound was simpler then hear John Hurt, hear him playing Creole Belle. And Joe Turner Blues, Spanish Fandango, Beulah Land and the rest.
Someone has informed me that, indeed, the Skip James, Mississippi John Hurt and Son House performaces at Newport in 1963 are on YouTube. If you want to see the old master male country blues singers fighting it out in their old age to see who is really "king of the blues hill" then this is a treat. I also have information that this session is available through Netflix but I will have to check on that. Later.
ReplyDeleteDid You, You Hear John Hurt?
ReplyDeleteAvalon Blues: A Tribute To The Music Of Mississippi John Hurt, various artists, Vanguard Records, 2001
A musical performer knows that he or she has arrived when they have accumulated enough laurels and created enough songs to be worthy, at least in some record producer eyes, to warrant a tribune album. When they are also alive to accept the accolades as two out of the four of the artists under review are, which is only proper, that is all to the good (this is part of a larger review of tributes to Greg Brown, Bob Dylan, Mississippi John Hurt and Hank Williams). That said, not all tribute albums are created equally. Some are full of star-studded covers, others with lesser lights who have been influenced by the artist that they are paying tribute to. As a general proposition though I find it a fairly rare occurrence, as I noted in a review of the "Timeless" tribute album to Hank Williams, that the cover artist outdoes the work of the original recording artist. With that point in mind I will give my "skinny" on the cover artists here.
If one were to ask virtually any fairly established folk music singer in, let's say 1968, what country blues musician influenced them the most then the subject of this review would win hands down. The list would be long- Dave Van Ronk, Geoff Muldaur, Maria Muldaur, Phil Ochs, Chris Smithers, Joan Baez and on and on. Hell, Tom Paxton wrote a song about him-"Did You Hear John Hurt?" That song still gets airplay on the folk station around where I live.
So what gives? Why the praise? What gives is this- Mississippi John Hurt and his simple country blues were 'discovered' at a time when many young, mainly white urban musicians were looking for roots music. This search was not anything particularly new-John and Alan Lomax went on the hustings in the 1930's and recorded many of the old country blues artists that were `discovered' in the 1960's. Hell, you can go back further to the 1920's and the record companies themselves were sending out agents to scour the country looking for talent- they found the likes of the Carter Family and Blind Willie McTell along the way.
That is the tradition that the artists covering Brother Hurt's songs are paying homage to in this CD. For the most part these are lesser known artists who, however, provide a sense of what old John was trying to convey in his slow, clear low-down style. Outstanding in that regard are Chris Smither's interpretation of the super-classic man-done-me wrong story "Frankie and Johnnie", Lucinda Williams' sorrowful "Angels Land Him Away", Geoff Muldaur's humorous "Chicken", Taj Mahal's eerily reminiscent, deep-throated "My Creole Belle" and Gillian Welch's mournful "Beulah Land". Listen on.
Did You Hear John Hurt?
ReplyDeleteWords and Music by Tom Paxton
It was a frosty night. It was beginning to snow,
And down the city streets, the wind began to blow.
We all came to the cellar. We all emptied the bar,
To hear a little fellow, play a shiny guitar.
[Cho:]
Did you hear John Hurt play the "Creole Bell,"
"Spanish Fandango" that he loved so well?
And did you love John Hurt? Did you shake his hand?
Did you hear him sing his "Candy Man?"
On a straight back chair, with his felt hat on,
He tickled our fancy with his "Avalon."
And everyone passing down on MacDougle Street,
Cocked their heads and listen to the tappin' feet.
[Cho:]
[Repeat first verse and Chorus]