Mississippi John Hurt
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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: Vanguard Records News Release on "Avalon Blues" * * * * * For more information on Mississippi John Hurt, visit these excellent web sites: The Mississippi John Hurt Museum The Blue Flame Cafe (includes an audio clip you can play)
