Album Details
No Blues Singer Ever Presented a More Gentle, Genial Image Than Mississippi John Hurt. A Guitarist with an Extraordinarily Lyrical and Refined Fingerpicking Style, He also Sang with Warmth, Unique in the Field of Blues, and the Gospel Influence in his Music Gave it a Depth and Reflective Quality Unusual in the Field. Coupled with the Sheer Gratitude and Amazement that He Felt Over Having Found a Mass Audience So Late in Life, and Playing Concerts in Front of Thousands of People – for Fees that Seemed Astronomical to a Man who Had Always Made Music a Sideline to his Life as a Farm Labourer – These Qualities Make Hurt’s Recordings Into a Very Special Listening Experience…. More >>
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Where does a legend end and a man begin? Where does a man’s life become a folktale or a song become a man’s life life? They meet deep in the Avalon Delta, with musicologists tramping through swamps to find lost gold. With men rising from their lives to take their place as long-presumed-dead legends. To sing of angels taking us away, of bar-room shootouts, of railroad hammers rising and falling, of the lingering shadows of slavery, of God calling men to work the harvest, of cheating lovers, of the disquiet of the soul, of chickens, diamond rings, dances, candy, trout, and bawdy tales that would make rappers blush.
This is a great introduction to Mississippi John Hurt. If you’ve never heard him he plays a lovely fingerpicking style where the thumb plays a simple alternating bass and the fingers play the melody. The compositions are wonderful and his voice is deep and rich. The kindness and humility of this man really shine through in this recording.
It’s a live performance recorded in the 60s after his `rediscovery’ (you may also see this issued under something like Mississippi John Hurt: Live). But the quality is superb and it is superior to other studio recording of his I have heard.
Rating: 5 / 5