Customer Reviews

Avalon Blues: A Tribute to the Music of Mississippi John Hurt

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I very much like the idea of this album. Musicians whose approach to music has been informed by the music and spirit of the great Mississipi John Hurt pay him tribute by interpreting his songs in their own style. After a couple of listenings, though, I have to say that I am a little dissapointed with the results. The problem is earnestness. Missisipi John Hurt was a sly, surprising , and funny performer. Part of his unique charm is his ability to take you off guard with a funny line, or guitar part. With a few exceptions (Victoria Williams,John Hiatt,Bill Morrissey), these covers come off as somewhat distant approximations of Hurt's brilliance. A better bet is Bill Morrissey's 1999 album "Songs of Mississipi John Hurt," or any of Hurt's own records.

This album ranks as my favorite of the first half of 2001 - Peter Case should get an award for just thinking of it, let alone putting it together. The performances are - not universally (see all comments about Victoria Williams) - fantastic; I always thought that the only guy who could fingerpick like this was Mississippi John Hurt himself, but evidently others have learned how. Bruce Cockburn, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Gillian Welch and Chris Smither all have stellar cuts. Geoff Muldaur shows us that John Hurt played more than just folk blues numbers (and his daughters sound eerily like their mother). Most importantly, this album will send a lot people to the source material - which is what every record collection should have, a Mississippi John Hurt album (start with the Vanguard releases, "Today" or the - double lp - live one recorded at Oberlin College).

As I write this, new copies of this wonderful album are available for less than $3 (through recommended Amazon sellers - check the 'new and used' link). That, my friends, is an exceptional bargain! I paid about $20 (including postage and handling) for this album around 18 months ago and considered it great value for money at the time, since every track (even the much maligned Victoria Williams cover of 'Since I Laid My Burden Down') is at least listenable, if not a veritable aural treat.

If you're a fan of the late Mississippi John Hurt (like myself), you'll find the contributions by Ben Harper and John Hiatt to be most reminiscent of his original recordings. Although these two modern artists come closest in replicating Hurt's distinctive finger-picking style, neither can match the deceptively subtle ease of his guitar playing. This is not to suggest that their versions are any less enjoyable, only that no one on this album can quite match the brilliance of Hurt.

From my perspective, only one track on this album - Gillian Welch's version of 'Beulah Land' - actually surpasses the original. Although the guitar playing is much more subdued on this track, the haunting echoes of Welch's vocals will send shivers down your spine. This track alone makes this $3 album a bargain, but it offers so much more than that. Even if you can't stand the Victoria William's track (it's not that bad, people), this great album is packed with 14 other songs which are hard to skip past. How many other albums for under $3 can you say that about?

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.

Hurt was a unique bluesman - funny, laid-back, and unassuming. There would be no value in merely imitating him. But at a time when many tribute albums are filled with third-rate performers parasitizing first-rate songwriters, it is a delight to find a tribute that justifies the word. Each artist tranforms a MJH song to fit his/her own style, and the results are memorable, and often outstanding. I especially liked Gillian Welch's spooky version of Beulah Land, but the entire CD is good (how often can you say that). If you like any of these artists, you will probably love this album. Highly recommended.

The music of John Hurt Smith aka Mississippi John (1893-1966) is very much different to that which is usually associated with Delta style. Hurt did not possess a hoarse bark in the style of a Charley Patton or a Son House, and his guitar was not the impassioned whine of a slide pressed on the strings. Instead Hurt's gentle voice and sweetly insistent fingerstyle guitar are among the most enchanting of all blues recordings. This tribute album is a suprising yet welcome addition to a market-place which seems to overflow with celebrity bluesers attempting to
wring yet a few more drops from Robert Johnsons already well-squeezed lemons.

"Frankie and Albert" "Candy Man" "Monday Morning Blues" are among the songs performed, all adequately, but the standouts include Lucinda Williams' "The Angels Laid Him Away", Beck's understated version of "Stagolee", Taj Mahal's happy, ragtimey "My Creole Belle" and the delightful "I'm Satisfied" performed by John Hiatt, who successfully conveys Hurts' sense wry, suggestive sense of humour in a coy tale of adolescent sexual teasing. A remarkable album on which the seemingly geniune respect and affection of the participants for Hurt and his music shines through

This CD is a stunning tribute to a great American -- with one exception. I'm not sure what strangle hold Victoria Williams has over the music reviewers in general, but she always gets great reviews even though her talent seems marginal at best. Well, there's clearly a conspiracy because she even gets great reviews for her absolute butchery of a great classic on this album. I actually stopped my CD player when I got to this song, SURE there was a technical glitch. Nope. Just bad taste, poorly excuted, a mistake. ... Buy the CD, and then use a CD-burner to make a copy all the songs except Victoria Williams -- and you'll have one of the best roots tribute albums ever produced.

This is more tribute album. A nice one, and one you can listen to while driving or writing a letter, but not a great breakthrough. What will decide whether you like this album is how many of the artists performing here you like.

Chris Smither starts the album with a very good version of "Frankie and Albert", a completely acoustic version as is most of the album. Bruce Cockburn continues with a slightly less convincing of Avalon. Lucinda sounds like Lucinda Williams, the same can be said for Ben Harper and Victoria Williams. Well, again, everything is good here, but nothing like Joe Cocker performing "With A Little Help From My Friends". The album flows nicely but there is not one killer version of Hurt's songs that made me see ths song differently or fall off my chair.

My conclusion, this is a nice cd to listen to and you can even buy it as a present to your friend as an introduction to these artists, or buy it to listen to it in your car...

This may be more interesting than the original.

I love the style _ I grew up on the finger picking of Mississippi John Hurt and Elizabeth Cotten. But (with a little bit of remorse), I like this album better than listening to MJH because there's variety _ on his albums, one song tends to run into another.

The material's great, although not every version is perfect. I like the Jerry Garcia-Tony Rice rendition of "Angels Laid Him Away'' (The Pizza Tapes) better than Lucinda Williams' (and I'm a big Lucinda fan). I note a lot of comments on Victoria Williams' cut here _ for three minutes, it's a hoot. The Earles, Taj Mahal and John Hiatt are also worth the price.

Overall, a nice listenable album.

Tribute albums can get pretty dire, but this disc is a great exception. Credit goes to musicologist/producer Peter Case for assembling a fantastic group of performers whose takes on these songs effectively bridge and transcend the categories of blues, pop, and folk music, just as Mississippi John Hurt's originals did.

While these are not slavish covers of the originals, the songs here are completely in tune with the style, good humor, and craftsmanship of the Hurt recordings. It's particularly enlightening to hear how these artists interpret Hurt's syncopated acoustic guitar style. While Hurt's unique style -- which sounds relaxed and easy but is notoriously difficult to master -- is seldom directly imitated it's hugely influential and revered; this disc has some of the best playing you'll ever hear from John Hiatt and Bruce Cockburn, and the disc appropriately leads off with a showcase fingerstyle performance by under-discoverd Hurt acolyte Chris Smither.

Highly recommended.