Hi Folks,
I wanted to celebrate today the anniversary of the birth of Mississippi John Hurt ("Daddy John" to his family).Today, 120 years ago, the world became a better place imho!
There is confusion about MJH's exact birthday.Philip Ratcliffe?s in his book " MJH, His Life, His Times, His Blues" observed the following: "Several dates have been recorded: March 8, 1892 (grave marker), ?man? Hurt (Son), Fred Bolden (grandnephew) Mar 16 1892 (social Security death index) may 7,1893 (some family members) May 8, 1895 (draft registration)" but in the end he opted to go with the March 8, 1892. So I'm happy to go with today also.
I'm playing "My Creole Belle" as taught by John Miller in his The Guitar of MJH Vol 1 DVD and it is transcribed from the 1963 recording on Rounder records " Avalon Blues" if memory serves.
Philip Ratcliffe notes about this tune: "Creole Belles, was a cakewalk hit written in 1901 by Bodewalt Lampe with words by George Sidey on which John (Hurt) modelled his song ? My Creole Belle?. However, John ommitted most of Sidneys words and modified the tune considerably to suit his own style.".
My attempt here fails spectacularly to capture the magic of John's original but I hope up there some where John gets a kick to know his music inspired me to go out and try!
Happy Birthday Daddy John!
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11491927
Click on this link to jump to the tune on my Sound Click page.
Colm
PS (MP3 file was too big to insert directly ... hence the link)
I wanted to celebrate today the anniversary of the birth of Mississippi John Hurt ("Daddy John" to his family).Today, 120 years ago, the world became a better place imho!
There is confusion about MJH's exact birthday.Philip Ratcliffe?s in his book " MJH, His Life, His Times, His Blues" observed the following: "Several dates have been recorded: March 8, 1892 (grave marker), ?man? Hurt (Son), Fred Bolden (grandnephew) Mar 16 1892 (social Security death index) may 7,1893 (some family members) May 8, 1895 (draft registration)" but in the end he opted to go with the March 8, 1892. So I'm happy to go with today also.
I'm playing "My Creole Belle" as taught by John Miller in his The Guitar of MJH Vol 1 DVD and it is transcribed from the 1963 recording on Rounder records " Avalon Blues" if memory serves.
Philip Ratcliffe notes about this tune: "Creole Belles, was a cakewalk hit written in 1901 by Bodewalt Lampe with words by George Sidey on which John (Hurt) modelled his song ? My Creole Belle?. However, John ommitted most of Sidneys words and modified the tune considerably to suit his own style.".
My attempt here fails spectacularly to capture the magic of John's original but I hope up there some where John gets a kick to know his music inspired me to go out and try!
Happy Birthday Daddy John!
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11491927
Click on this link to jump to the tune on my Sound Click page.
Colm
PS (MP3 file was too big to insert directly ... hence the link)