Lonesome Valley

I'm going to stick with a Mississippi John Hurt theme for a bit. There's actually a really great story about how MJH was re-discovered in the 60s, even if there's an element of exploitation involved in it. During the revival of interest in the blues in the 60s, young white folk music enthusiasts started listening and learning from recordings made in the 20s. Amongst these was an MJH recording, which Folkways had re-released in the early 50s. Jas Obrecht tells of how MJH was literally found through his music:

Unbeknownst to Hurt, Folkways Records re-released two of his old 78 songs in the early 50s ... and he had a circle of admirers. Most figured he was long dead, but Tom Hoskins, a young White musician living in Washington, D.C., had his doubts. After hearing a tape of "Avalon Blues" in 1963 [1], Hoskins headed for Mississippi with an old atlas that showed Avalon along a secondary road [2]. Locals directed him to the third mailbox up the hill where, sure enough, dwelled Mr. Hurt. At the time, Hurt was working on the cattle ranch cutting hay and helping with the cotton and corn harvests. Hoskins was thrilled to learn that Hurt's musical skills were intact, and talked him into coming to Washington, D.C. to begin a new career. "I though he was the police," Hurt remembered. "When he asked me to come North, I figured if I told him 'no', he'd take me anyway, so I said 'yes'."

[1] The lyric goes: "Avalon, my home town, always on my mind ..."
[2] Apparently current maps no longer showed the existence of Avalon.

So, the most appropriate thing to play on this post would be "Avalon Blues" but I haven't mastered that one yet. In the meantime, here's "Walk that Lonesome Valley", which has some nice position playing. I actually managed to learn this one from watch the video (posted below). MJH's playing makes something that took me a while for me to learn how to execute look effortless!



You've got to walk, that lonesome valley
You've got to walk, it for yourself.
Ain't nobody else, can walk it for you,
You've got to walk that valley for yourself

Let the Mermaids Flirt with Me

Here's a really interesting country blues by Mississippi John Hurt. I like Hurt's music because it's quiet and unassuming but always masterfully played. His alternating bass finger-picking style, which is really quite different from the harder driving delta blues of the likes of Son House or Robert Johnson that I was first exposed to, is the one that I predominantly play nowadays and I'm gradually getting a sense of the possibilities that his style opened up. I like this piece because it's such as melancholic but playful blues lyric. And of course, it reminds me of Eliot's "Prufrock". I don't sing all the verses but here's the MJH tune, "Let the Mermaids Flirt with Me".



Blues all on the ocean, blues all in the air.
Can't stay here no longer, I have no steamship fare.
When my earthly trials are over, carry my body out in the sea.
Save all the undertaker bills, let the mermaids flirt with me.

I do not work for pleasure, earthly peace I'll see no more.
The only reason I work at all, is drive the world from my door.
When my earthly trials are over, carry my body out in the sea.
Save all the undertaker bills, let the mermaids flirt with me.

My wife controls our happy home, a sweetheart I can not find.
The only thing I can call my own, is a troubled and a worried mind.
When my earthly trials are over, carry my body out in the sea.
Save all the undertaker bills, let the mermaids flirt with me.

Blues all in my body, my darling has forsaken me.
If I ever see her face again, I have to swim across the sea.
When my earthly trials are over, carry my body out in the sea.
Save all the undertaker bills, let the mermaids flirt with me.

Blues all on the ocean, blues all in the air.
Can't stay here no longer, I have no steamship fare.
When my earthly trials are over, carry my body out in the sea.
Save all the undertaker bills, let the mermaids flirt with me.