Hurt @ NYU '63

Through the early 1960's, when the folk blues revival was reaching fever pitch, a good deal of that interest was fueled by New York City's Friends of Old Time Music. This group staged more than a dozen concerts in the city between 1961 and 1965, shining the spotlight directly on folk and blues artists who had long been relegated to obscurity. Most of these concerts were recorded by Peter Siegel, to whom we are indebted for preserving this legacy.

1963 was a significant year for Mississippi John Hurt. Presumed by many to be dead--and by everybody to be lost to Time--a musicologist by the name of Tom Hoskins adopted a novel approach: he simply went to Avalon, Mississippi, the town of which Hurt had sang about 35 years before, and began to ask around. Avalon was mythical in its own right, a hamlet that didn't even appear on highway maps of that time. Certain that it, and presumably the only link to Hurt, was there, Hoskins located the town just outside Greenwood, MS, in an atlas, circa 1878. He located Hurt himself shortly thereafter.

In December of that year, the Friends of Old Time Music staged a concert at NYU's School of Medicine, a double bill that had Hurt sharing the stage with Dock Boggs, who, like Mississippi John, had also recorded his obscure sides in that city, more than 30 years before. I have never been able to locate Boggs' set from this legendary night. Mississippi John Hurt's contributions that evening were a love letter to us all.


Mississippi John Hurt
NYU School of Medicine Alumini Hall
New York University
New York NY
December 13, 1963

1. Do Lord Intro
2. Do Lord Remember Me
3. Since I've Laid My Burden Down
4. C.C. Rider
5. Casey Jones
6. Nobody's Dirty Business
7. Richmond Woman Blues Intro
8. Richmond Woman Blues
9. Let The Mermaids Flirt With Me
10. Spike Driver's Blues
11. Stack O'Lee Blues
12. Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor
13. Coffee Blues Intro
14. Coffee Blues
15. My Creole Blues
16. Frankie and Al
17. Talking Casey //

Link

Peace, Mudcatz