Mississippi John Hurt

Mississippi John Hurt (March 8, 1893 – November 2, 1966)

Mississippi John Hurt

John Smith Hurt, better known as Mississippi John Hurt, was born in Teco, Carol County Mississsippi.

Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, Hurt taught himself to play the guitar around the age of nine. Hurt worked as a sharecropper and began playing at dances and parties. He would sing to his melodious finger picking style. Hurt’s first recordings were made for Okeh Records in 1928. They were commercial failures, so he continued to work as a farmer and sharecropper.

Hurt lived much of his life in obscurity in Avalon. It wasn’t until a copy of his recording Avalon Blues was discovered by musicologist Dick Spotswood that he was rediscovered. Spotswood convinced Hurt to move to Washington D.C. to perform and record.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.