Artist:Mississippi John Hurt
Song:Nobody Cares For Me
Album:Worried Blues 1963
Legendary bluesman Mississippi John Hurt likely would have died in obscurity if the folk music revival of the early 60s had not rediscovered him. He was born July 3, 1893 in Teoc, MS and grew up in Avalon, MS. He started playing guitar at parties for fun and in the early 1920s he started playing square dances with fiddle player Willie Namour. He was spotted by an Okeh Records talent scout in 1927 who was in Avalon to record Namour. He was brought to New York to record in 1928 but Hurt's records didn't sell probably because his style was too laid back for mass marketing. Hurt returned to obscurity in Avalon. That's where he would have remained if not for musicologist Tom Hoskins. He seeked out Hurt in 1963 after listening to his song Avalon Blues. Hoskins signed him to Piedmont Records and set up a concert tour. Hurt's appearance at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival introduced him to a new and enthusiastic audience. Hurt was always a modest and soft spoken gentleman so he didn't know what to make of his new fame that brought him more money than he had ever seen. Rounder Records has rereleased Hurt's Piedmont recordings on CD. Hurt continued to be very popular until his death on Nov. 2, 1966 at age 73. Here's Mississippi John Hurt performing Spike Driver along with a Pete Seeger inspired story in 1964.
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