Customer Reviews

Avalon Blues: Complete 1928 Okeh Recordings

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This cd, which represents the complete 1928 recordings of Mississippi John Hurt is truly blues everlasting. It is amazing to realize when listening to this that it was recorded that long ago. The quality of the songs, John Hurt's voice and his guitar playing skill are all superb.

As other's have mentioned John Hurt was born in 1892, and developed notoriety for his skills as a musician. He was recorded in 1928 and then vanished into the farmlands of Mississippi. With the resurgence of folk and blues music in the early 1960's many so-called lost artists were "rediscovered." Mississippi John Hurt was among these musicians. Rediscovered by a young blues enthusiast Tom Hoskins, who took a clue from a line in one of Hurt's songs "Avalon's my home, always on my mind" to track him down. From that time until his death in 1966 Hurt became a fixture on the folk circuit.

It really is not surprising that he was so well received in the 60's when one looks at this cd which represents Mississippi John's early work. It includes many truly classic songs, Frankie, Stack O'Lee, Candy Man, Spike Driver Blues and Nobody's Dirty Business. Lines such as "he was a bad man, cruel Stack o' Lee." "He was her man and he done her wrong" "angels laid him away," "You're so heavy make a good man change his mind" and "take this hammer, carry it to the captain" demonstrate the richness of both the folk tradition and Hurts music. Artists such as Jerry Garcia, Arlo Guthrie, Taj Mahal and Jesse Colin Young have felt compelled to perform his songs.

His voice is pure, sweet and pleasing. While it does not carry the angst of such early performers as Charley Patton and Robert Johnson, it's honesty is copied by others. His guitar playing is amazing and this alone could carry the cd. Artist who have been influenced by his style are Bob Dylan, Taj Mahal, Bonnie Raitt, Rory Block, Alvin Youngblood Hart and Sonny Landreth.

For those who are interested in folk, blues, the history of modern music or any of the artists mentioned this is a worthwhile cd to have.

It was on the basis of these recordings that blues collectors in the '60's made an attempt to "rediscover" Hurt. They found him by using the lyrics to "Avalon Blues," ("Avalon's my home town, always on my mind.") They dug up an old road map, went to where Avalon should have been and asked around at the first gas station they found. Amazingly, the attendant pointed them up the road, where Hurt was sitting on his porch as if waiting for them! Even had they not found him, these legendary sides would have been enough to secure his place in blues history. They are some of the most hauntingly beautiful and unique recordings in all blues. Hurt sang of surprisingly violent and frank subjects in a disarmingly tender voice, coupled with an amazing technical mastery of guitar(there is a story that Segovia, upon hearing these recordings, couldn't believe that Hurt was not playing with anouther guitarist.)

This music will stay with you and is often quite moving and original, since it combines blues with elements and playing styes normally associated with "folk," due to the fact that Hurt hardly ever left Avalon and so was isolated from the "mainstream" Delta styles. There is a sort of spiritual calm and hard-won wisdom reflected in Hurt's music and there is nothing else quite like it in all of American music.

Mississippi John Hurt (1893-1966) is a strange man in the blues history.In fact, he's not really a blues musician,but rather, like his elder, Leadbelly (Huddie Ledbetter,1889-1949), a songster.He was a small, gentle man, who recorded these 13 sides in the twenties, and waited until the early sixties to be rediscovered;during the last years of his life,he toured,playing at Newport and other festivals, and recorded several albums, mostly for Vanguard.I always found that Hurt's voice was one of the most fascinating I ever heard; a swinging,mild voice,that tells a lot about the graciousness of the man.His guitar picking,which looks like beeing simple,is in fact one of the most difficult and original I ever heard.I wish I had such a thumb to play the bass parts on my guitar ! John Hurt plays some tunes that were already old tunes in 1928 : the haunting "Louis Collins",the eternal "Stack o'Lee",the classic "Candy man"(you can listen to outstanding versions of this tune by Reverend Gary Davis),some sacred tunes,"blessed be the name","praying on the old camp ground",and some blues,"Avalon blues","big leg blues",or "spike driver blues".By the way, Hurt was rediscovered in the early sixties because he recorded that tune,"Avalon blues".Listening to it,some people went to this town,hoping that he still was living there.Mississippi John Hurt is a master in the music of the past century,reaching the same rank as Blind Willie Johnson,Charley Patton or Skip James.His 1928 sessions will allways remain some of the greatest masterpieces in the blues history.I personnaly enjoy his music for more than twenty years,and I hope you'll do the same.

Mississippi John Hurt was an amazing folk musician and these are some of his finest recordings. It's too bad that Columbia decided to use sonic solutions "no noise" processing on this release. Thankfully a much better release of the same material is available from Yazoo titled: The 1928 Sessions. The difference is between the two releases is so extreme it staggers the imagination how Columbia could have released this cd sounding so poorly.

This is one of the most beautiful albums ever recorded. Hurt is one of a very few musicians in recorded history (Thelonious Monk is another) who has a totally unique, personal style and vision which dominates every note of every song. His guitar playing is masterful and his vocals are warm and evocative. But these facts do not prepare you for the beauty and supreme artistic achievement of these recordings, which stand with the greatest cultural achievements of the 20th century.

Avalon Blues

It is hard to believe that these thirteen songs are the sum total of John Smith Hurt's recorded output until he reached the age of 72. Made in the winter of 1928, these 'sides' represent almost all we know of the 36 year old laborer, share cropper and jack-of-all trades who also happened to be a consummate blues musician. Things like that make me crazy sometimes. Even now Hurt's total recorded output only amounts to about 60 songs, most from the studio recordings made in 1966, just before his untimely death.

I was still a freshman in college when Mississippi John Hurt was being rediscovered. It was several years later that I was struggling to learn how to play guitar and his recordings came out. I remember being astounded - and nearly giving up playing. Here it is 2002 and I am still entranced by the man's playing - and still trying to perform some of the songs he worked out for himself in Carroll County, Mississippi.

The 1928 Okeh recordings are like a telescope into the past, displaying a more driving, pyrotechnic John Hurt than the one who showed up some 36 years later and blew me away. His guitar style is just a bit faster in pace and has an almost uncontrolled energy. His voice is just a tiny bit less a part of the music. But, the raw skill and musicianship are unmistakable. The impossible syncopation between the bass line, the melody and his singing is already there.

Five of the songs also are part of the studio recordings and comparing them is a study in shades of difference. The guitar work sounds less rushed in the newer versions but actually, the tempo is almost the same. The Okeh recordings ramble around the beat a bit and the studio recordings are dead on, totally under control. Hurt's vocal work is also more effective in the 1960's; he and the guitar seem to sing duets. Yet in 1928 his singing is a bit sweeter.

The quality of the Okeh recordings is remarkable considering when they were made. Obviously, some technical wizardry has been used to reduce noise and enhance audibility and it was well worth the effort. These are valuable records to me. Not only does the CD contain six songs that I previously only knew in tablature, but also this is simply great music. For players and aficionado's this is required listening. Five stars is hardly enough.

Soon after meeting the woman I was to marry she sang me a song she'd heard performed by Maria Muldaur, still then a member of Jim Kweskin's Jug Band. I was enchanted by the song and the singer and went looking for the "original" performance by the Jug Band. I looked and looked but Kweskin was long forgotten and his LPs near impossible to find. I found something else instead.

Mississippi John Hurt was not only a wonderful guitarplayer, but his gentle and melancholy voice leaves a lasting imprint if you just let it. My wife was astonished and delighted to find out that this song (sung from the point of view of a woman) she had thought Maria Muldaur's, was in fact written and performed long before by this shy and humble man from the town of Avalon. Now that song ("Richland Woman Blues") isn't on this cd, but it compiles all of his 1928 sessions into one of the great blues/folk recordings of all time. I haven't the words in me to describe what an exceptional record this is, so I'll stop here. You just have to hear it. Is there anything as beautifully haunting as "Louis Collins" ? I get the shivers every time I hear his voice telling me that story..

John Smith Hurt of Avalon, Mississippi wasn't really a bluesman. Sure, he had numerous blues tunes in his exceptionally broad repertoire, but he never regarded himself as a blues singer. His playing was just too refined and articulate, and his gentle voice too plain to work in a mass setting such as a dance; John Hurt's music was (and is) best heard in small, intimate gatherings.

Rediscovered in 1963 after 35 years of musical inactivity, John Hurt didn't even own a guitar when Tom Hoskins travelled to Mississippi to establish whether he was still among the living. He was, and he became the darling of the mid-60s folk crowd, but way back in 1928, when Hurt was in his mid-30s, he laid down these thirteen sides for OKeh, and they remain his ultimate musical statement.
These are the highly priced collector's items that initially made Hurt's rediscovery and idea worth pursuing...sheer musical perfection, with a keen sense of chord melody structure which makes John Hurt's bouncy, rhythmic playing sound both elegant and driving, topped as it is by his warm, pleasant voice.

He mixes spirituals, blues, and folk songs, coming off as a songster rather than a bluesman most of the time, and his versions of religious pieces like "Praying On The Old Camp Ground" and "Blessed Be The Name" are just beautiful.
These are the original incarnations of "Candy Man Blues", "Avalon Blues", "Nobody's Dirty Business", and Hurt's renditions of "Stack O'Lee", "Spike Driver Blues", and "Frankie". He went on to re-record almost all of these songs in the 60s, but these are the originals, and the ones on which his highly justifiable reputation rests. And the sound quality is truly amazing...would that we could one day hear Charlie Patton or Blind Lemon Jefferson or Son House's 1930 waxings this clearly.

What an amazing story. In 1928, OKeh recording director Tommy Rockwell discovers a then 35-year-old John Hurt in Avalon, Mississippi. Hurt goes to New York in February and cuts a handful of tracks. "Frankie" and "Nobody's Dirty Business" sell well enough to bring Hurt back in December for two more recording dates. These thirteen tracks are the result of those 1928 sessions. Hurt would spend the next thirty-five years in relative obscurity before his next recordings at the age of 70. But even if he never stepped into a recording studio again, these recordings would still make Hurt one of the most revered folk-blues artists.

I first encountered Hurt's music by way of Doc Watson, but there's no substitute for the real thing. There's no flash, no guitar pyrotechnics. Just a simple man whose restrained vocals and unique fingerpicking create nothing short of magic. ESSENTIAL [Running Time - 38:17]

Mississippi John Hurt recorded only 13 songs before returning to a life of obscurity and hard work on a farm. Of these 13 songs recorded in 1928, 11 were penned by John Hurt with the other two being traditional spiritual numbers ("Blessed be the name" and "Praying on the old camp ground"). The recording quality of these Okeh recordings is simply fantastic, and have the best recording quality I have heard from this era. A little hiss is heard (very little) and not much else.

As to the recordings themselves, they are probably the sweetest sounding, most mellifluous early delta/country blues I have ever heard. John Hurt may not have had the well-known name of a Robert Johnson or Son House, but these recordings have had their influence in their own way. The song Stack O' Lee penned by Hurt became an R&B hit in 1950 (as Stack-A-Lee) for New Orleans pianist Archibald, and also became a rock-and-roll hit in 1958 for Lloyd Price (as Stagger Lee).

It should be noted that after Hurt recorded these songs, he went back to work in his hometown of Avalon, MS. Because this was an out-of the-way town, few passed through it, and because of this Hurt was influenced by few outside artists of the day. What we wind up with on this album is the heart and soul of John Hurt.......and it is magnificent.