Delta blues musical history is
filled with characters who appear and disappear into the nightly
mists and haze over the cotton fields. Some of these bluesman,
like Robert Johnson, left a treasure of songs behind, but met an
untimely end to their short careers and life. Others, like
Mississippi John Hurt, appeared on the scene, performed for a while,
then melted back into obscurity until rediscovered near the end of
their lives.
Mississippi John Hurt was one
of the pioneers of blues music, helping to define a form called
"country blues." Country blues music is the form which is
played using an acoustic guitar, much like Robert Johnson is doing
on the Columbia boxed set, "Robert Johnson, The Complete
Recordings". Mississippi John Hurt's contributions to blues
music include a folk song-like lyrical style and guitar picking so
complex it sounds like two guitarists are performing
together. There are excellent biographies on Mississippi
John Hurt on the Vanguard Records, Mudcat Cafe and Blue Flame web
sites mentioned at the bottom of this page.
In late September 1999, on my
personal "blues history tour", I searched out for his final resting
place. A blues handout published by a local music producer
stated Mississippi John Hurt is buried in a small Missionary Baptist
cemetery on the top of a hill in Avalon, Mississippi. The
cemetery, set in a forest glade, is the highest point in the area
facing west across the Mississippi Delta. Progressing up from
the county highway junction, the road changes from a gravel road to
a dirt road to a rough-cut path-like road and then back to a dirt
road. All of a sudden, surveyor's flags appeared on the left
(west) side of the road. Looking around, it became obvious
they marked the cemetery's limits.
Walking past
numerous collapsed graves and recent temporary funeral home grave
markers, far to the rear, perhaps 75 to 100 feet from the road, one
finds Mississippi John Hurt resting in peace.
Another blues fan or maybe a family
member had left some flowers and a picture of Mississippi John on
the headstone. I picked up some trash and broken tree
limbs off his grave, said a prayer and thanked him for his
music. Not being able to pull up one of his songs from deep in
my memory, I sang out a round of "Boom-Boom" by John Lee
Hooker. Another blues fan walked up at that point, didn't
laugh at me, but offered to take my picture. It was about 100
degrees that day, even in the shade, but when we turned to walk away
from Mississippi John's grave, an ice cold breeze passed through the
area for about 15 seconds. As one of my more religious
friends would say "Pat, it's a sign; it's a sign." I guess it
meant Mississippi John enjoyed the visit and my singing of
Boom-Boom!
* * * * *
How about a short funny story that
even a bluesman like Mississippi John Hurt would laugh at if he
heard it?
On the way back down the hill, my car
was blocked by a rusted out Ford Ranger pickup truck driven by some
Billy-Joe-Jim-Bob with unkempt hair and absolutely filthy
clothes. I walked up to him, leaned against the door and half
in the window, asking "What's going on?" as his eight year old son,
looking like Pugsley from the Adams Family, played with some spent
shotgun shells. I didn't see any weapons in sight, so I
figured the kid was just horsing around with some junk.
Billy-Joe-Jim-Bob's jaw dropped he he heard my native
"nawth-jurzee" accent and he gripped the wheel with both
hands. "What were ya'll doing up there?", he drawled in a
shaky voice. I whipped out my rolled up Delta Blues Visitor's
Guide from below the truck's window sill and said "Just visiting a
grave, a bluesman who's buried up in the church cemetery. Just
followed the public road, that's all." He was surprised by my
quick movement and stammered his uncle-in-law (whatever that is! )
owned the land all around and called him when he saw someone going
up the road. In my best Air Force chief master sergeant voice
tone I said, "Yeah, right, well, just went to visit the grave and
now heading down as soon as you move out of my way." The
other blues fan was standing there wondering what would happen
next. Billy-Joe-Jim-Bob must have thought "Mr Mafia" or
whoever he thought I was would take him out or something as he moved
his truck almost instantly, not moving his hands at all from the
"11-1 o'clock" position on the steering wheel as he maneuvered out
of my way. Thanks, Billy-Joe-Jim-Bob, you have a great future
as a car jockey!
* * * * *
A tribute to Mississippi John Hurt CD was recently
released on the Vanguard label called "Avalon Blues", starring
See these web sites fro more information on the
"Avalon Blues" CD:
Rolling
Stone Magazine
Vanguard Records News Release on "Avalon
Blues"
* * * * *
For more information on Mississippi
John Hurt, visit these excellent web sites:
The
Mississippi John Hurt Museum
Vanguard
Records
The Blue Flame Cafe (includes an audio clip
you can play)
Mississippi
John Hurt and the Delta Blues
