Mississippi John Smith Hurt, born July 3, 1893 in Teoc, Carroll County, Mississippi, was an influential blues singer and guitarist.

Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, he learned to play guitar at age 10. He spent much of his youth playing old time music for friends and dances, earning a living as a farm hand into the 1920s. In 1923 he often partnered with the fiddle player Willie Narmour (Carroll County Blues) as a substitute for his regular partner Shell Smith. When Narmour got a chance to record for OKeh Records in reward for winning first place in a 1928 fiddle contest, Narmour recommended John Hurt to OKeh Records producer Tommy Rockwell. After auditioning "Monday Morning Blues" at his home, he took part in two recording sessions, in Memphis and New York City (See Discography below). The "Mississippi" tag was added by OKeh as a sales gimmick. After the commercial failure of the resulting disc and OKeh records going out of business during the depression, Hurt returned to Avalon and obscurity working as a sharecropper and playing local parties and dances.

In 1963, however, a folk musicologist named Tom Hoskins, inspired by the recordings, was able to locate John Hurt near Avalon, Mississippi. With his guitar playing skills still intact, Hoskins encouraged Hurt to move to Washington, DC and begin performing on a wider stage. Whereas his first releases had coincided with the Great Depression, his new career could hardly have been better timed.

A stellar performance at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival saw his star rise amongst the new "folk revival" audience and he played extensively in colleges, concert halls, coffee houses and even the Johnny Carson Tonight Show, as well as recording three further albums for Vanguard Records. John Hurt's influence spans several music genres including blues, country, bluegrass, folk and contemporary rock and roll.

A soft-spoken man, his nature was reflected in the work, which remained a mellow mix of country, blues and old time music to the end.

Mississippi John Smith Hurt passed November 2, 1966, in Grenada, Mississippi.

Complete Discography

• "Frankie" (3:21)- February 24, 1928, Memphis, TN - 400221-B, OK 8560
  
• "Nobody's Dirty Business" (2:52)- February 24, 1928, Memphis - 400223-B, OK 8560
  
• "Ain't No Tellin'" (2:54)- December 21, 1928, New York City, NY - 401471-A, OK 8560
  
• "Louis Collins" (2:57)- December 21, 1928, NYC - 401472-A, OK 8724
  
• "Avalon Blues" (3:01)- December 21, 1928, NYC - 401473-B, OK 8759
• "Big Leg Blues" (2:50)- December 21, 1928, NYC - 401474-B, unissued
• "Stack O' Lee" (2:55)- December 28, 1928, NYC - 401481-B, OK 8654
• "Candy Man Blues" (2:44)- December 28, 1928, NYC - 401483-B, OK 8654
• "Got The Blues (Can't Be Satisfied)" (2:49)- Dec 28, 1928, NYC- 401484-B, OK 8734
  
• "Blessed Be The Name" (2:46)- December 28, 1928, NYC - 401485-B, OK 8666
• "Praying On The Old Camp Ground" (2:35)- Dec 28 1928, NYC- 401486-B, OK 8666
• "Blue Harvest Blues" (2:51)- December 28, 1928 NYC - 401487-A, OK 8692
  
• "Spike Driver Blues" (3:13)- December 28, 1928 NYC - 401488, OK 8692
  
• Mississippi John Hurt 1928 Sessions (Yazoo 1065, Yazoo Records)
• Last Sessions - 1966 (Vanguard)
  
• Worried Blues (Piedmont PLP 13161, Piedmont Records)
  
• Mississippi John Hurt Today (VSD-79220, Vanguard Records)
  
• Mississippi John Hurt Last Sessions (VSD-79327, Vanguard Records)
  
• The Best of Mississippi John Hurt (VSD-19/20, Vanguard Records) Recorded live at Oberlin College April 15, 1965
  
• The Candy Man (QS 5042, Quicksilver Records)
  
• Volume One of a Legacy (CLPS 1068, Piedmont Records)
  
• Folk Songs and Blues (PLP 13757, Piedmont Records)

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