The Dead Wax Artist of the Week is Mississippi John Hurt (1892-1966). We're going back to his final album, Today!, from 1966. We'll play three tracks from a vintage Vanguard pressing, including Spike Driver's Blues. John Smith Hurt grew up in Avalon, Mississippi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_John_Hurt). He was a share cropper and a farmer for most of his life, although he had a short, three record recording career in 1928. While these albums had little commercial success, they drew the attention of producer Tom Hoskins in 1966. Tom tracked John Hurt down using the lyrics in the song Avalon Blues, which references Avalon, Mississippi. Tom found John there and convinced him to move to Washington D.C. and record a few albums for the Library of Congress. These recordings were then produced by Vanguard and set John Hurt up with coffee house and small concert gigs, including a well received performance at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZLwd6ymZv8; John Hurt starts at 2:20 on the video). He taught himself how to play and had no real influences other than his nearby friends. His open handed, three finger picking style gave a truly unique sound. This is country blues at its best!
