Published on Aug 7, 2001
I am a recent convert to the musical legacy that is Mississippi
John Hurt, and I haven’t as of yet been able to find a lot of his
music. But from the first moment I heard his voice and guitar on
the Newport Folk Festival blues CDs I reviewed about a month ago,
I’ve been intrigued, fascinated, and overjoyed with the master of
Delta guitar and songwriting.
Hurt was more than a bluesman his style was older, more
conversational, and more a reflection of pure singing and
storytelling than anything else. Almost lost forever, Hurt’s music
was saved in the mid-sixties by the folk revival and has, since
then, been a consistent presence and influence on American artists.
I’m not the first person touched by Hurt’s music, as is obvious by
the list of artists on
Avalon Blues.
Tribute artists, however, are always a tough thing to review and
a tougher thing to judge. Sometimes, artists you love turn in some
of their worst performances (Kate Bush’s version of “Rocket Man”
still causes psychic scarring ten years later). So I’m not judging
these performances on how close they are to the original, but
rather how well they work on their own.
By that standard,
Avalon Blues works relatively well, with a few exceptions. I
admit to never having warmed to Victoria Williams, and her version
of “Since I’ve Laid My Burden Down” doesn’t change my mind much; it
makes her sound like Yoko Ono. Lucinda Williams on “Angels Laid Him
Away” just doesn’t have the chops to handle the intensity needed.
Those are, admittedly, the big two complaints, and from there on
out it gets a lot better.
Hurt was a brilliant guitarist; there is an apocryphal story of
classical guitar great Andres Segovia hearing a Hurt solo recording
and asking who the second guitarist is. Chris Smither on “Frankie
And Albert”, Bruce Cockburn on “Avalon, My Home Town”, and Mark
Selby on “Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor” all handle tough guitar
work with aplomb. Alvin Youngblood Hart tears through the spiritual
“Here I Am, Oh Lord, Send Me”. Steve and Justin Earle do justice to
the nine-innuendoes-a-second “Candy Man”, Geoff Muldaur gets his
kids into the act on “Chicken”, and the brilliant Bill Morrissey
scores as always on “Pay Day”. Finally, two excellent tracks from
unusual artists round out the good stuff; Beck’s straight,
note-perfect take on “Stagolee” and Taj Mahal’s rollicking “My
Creole Belle”.
Avalon Blues is a good look at Mississippi John Hurt the
songwriter, and it has some nice takes on classic songs. It’s worth
picking up as is the complete catalog of the man himself. You won’t
be disappointed in either case.