Jack's house was sittin' in a old cemetary... He used to tell me, 'Boy, sometimes when I be out here, I have them jokers cuttin' up out there in them graveyards.' 'What you be doin' Jack?' 'Boy, playin' that guitar and havin' a durn good time out there' - Jack Owens, remembered by Jimmy Holmes, Living Blues #137
I just received a couple of MJH CDs I bought online ("MJH: The Complete Studio Recordings" on Vanguard and "Avalon Blues: Complete 1928 Okeh Recordings") and listening to his music puts me in such a good frame of mind that I can't stop playing his songs. I imported the entire collection into my Mac and now I listen at my computer while writing my dissertation. Excellent medicine for this activity. Bg
You're most fortunate that you're able to do this. The soundtrack for my dissertation was mostly Beethoven's String Quartets and Bach's Cello Suites. Whenever I tried to listen to MJH and others, it made me stop writing and pick up my guitar. I would never have finished. I'm glad you can resist.
Thanks for posting the pictures, Michael. You must have quite a collection. The ones with John Hurt and Libba Cotten are great--he looks like a charter member of the Flirting Hall of Fame. All best, Johnm
Bluesygal & John - Glad you liked 'em! Here is some memorabilia from MJH's career that I found in various places on the web -- if I had a time machine, I would transport myself to one of these shows:
from 1963 -- MJH's first concert in NYC following his "rediscovery":
from the mid-1960s:
inside flyer sent out ahead of the 1965 Newport Folk Festival -- not a bad lineup of musicians, heh?:
from 1965 or 1966 "American Folk Blues Festival" in Europe -- interestingly, MJH ended up missing this tour because he became sick:
« Last Edit: January 17, 2005, 07:25:13 AM by outfidel »
If my failing memory is right I think I went to that Bristol concert of the American Folk Blues mid 60s.
I've also certainly seen Otis Spann, Cousin Joe and others on similar concert type tours when they visited Bristol as it was on the mailine music circuits back then - it's along time now, must go and oil my zimmer
Here's a couple more MJH pics I found on the web. It looks like a smiling Brownie McGhee is behind him on the right. Is Dave Van Ronk the guy in sunglasses on the left?