Mississippi John Hurt - Vanguard Visionaries '2007

Tracks list

       Founded in 1950 by brothers Seymour Solomon and Maynard Solomon just as
the LP format was taking hold (it had been introduced to the market two years
previously), Vanguard Records took full advantage of the longer playing time
afforded and began life as a classical label, moving easily into jazz, then
gospel, bluegrass, blues, and folk (as Joan Baez's label, they had a high
profile during the 1960s folk revival), eventually experimenting with rock
groups like the Frost, although folk and classical remained the label's forte.
Vanguard was sold to the Welk Group in 1985. The new owners set about
revitalizing the imprint's back catalog, and also began adding contemporary
recordings of country and pop artists as the 21st century began. To celebrate
the imprint's rapidly approaching 60th anniversary, Vanguard has released a
series of brief artist samplers (Vanguard Visionaries) from the label's peak
1960s and early-'70s era, including this one from Mississippi John Hurt. A
gentle blues songster with an impressive acoustic guitar style, Hurt had made a
handful of recordings with OKeh Records over a pair of sessions in 1928, but
never developed a professional career and dropped from sight shortly afterwards.
Hurt was rediscovered in 1965 during the folk and blues revival, and the
considerable guitar skills and gentle vocal approach that highlighted his 1928
recordings were still very much intact. He recorded four albums for Vanguard
(one of them was actually a concert recording made at Oberlin College in 1965)
in the mid-'60s, each of them a pure delight. This brief sampler draws from
those four albums and includes fine versions of such traditional country blues
fare as "Candy Man," "Stagolee," and "Spike Driver Blues."

Tracklist:
1.01 - Mississippi John Hurt - Candy Man (2:56)
1.02 - Mississippi John Hurt - Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor (4:33)
1.03 - Mississippi John Hurt - Spike Driver Blues (3:25)
1.04 - Mississippi John Hurt - I'm Satisfied (2:54)
1.05 - Mississippi John Hurt - Since I've Laid My Burden Down (2:44)
1.06 - Mississippi John Hurt - Richland Woman Blues (4:02)
1.07 - Mississippi John Hurt - The Chicken (1:06)
1.08 - Mississippi John Hurt - Stagolee (5:36)
1.09 - Mississippi John Hurt - Goodnight Irene (2:26)
1.10 - Mississippi John Hurt - Farther Along (3:42)

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