Topic: Daddy John's Birthday!

[colm kill paul]

Folks,

March 8th. ( 1 month from today) is Mississippi John Hurt's birthday and I'd like to invite you to bring you guitars round to the back porch for a party on the day.

If you are a John Hurt fan  and want to join the party just dust down your audio/video recorder over the coming weeks and record your version of a John Hurt tune. Then on March 8th we can post them up and have a global guitar pickin' party!

Now this is a Back Porch party so pride of place goes to those may not have posted a tune before and those who are still working on the finished tune and are posting a work in progress.(Go for it!!) We also need to hear the 2013 versions of John Hurt tunes you may have posted before!(your music is evolving!!) And just to show how warm and friendly the Back Porch can be, lets have some tunes from our next door neighbours in Performance Corner.(every party needs a pro!!)

See you here on the 8th March. BYOB. Hats are required!

Colm

[frankie]

well, I DO have a hat, although I don't play much Mississippi John Hurt. I'll start listening now and we'll see if anything comes out around the 8th.

[Norfolk Slim]

Not sure when / if I'll be online tomorrow- so I'm throwing my little effort up now.

I wasn't wearing a hat and its only a few verses, but hopefully better than nothing!

[Pan]

Not sure when / if I'll be online tomorrow- so I'm throwing my little effort up now.

I wasn't wearing a hat and its only a few verses, but hopefully better than nothing!

That was very nice!

Cheers

Pan

[colm kill paul]

Simon,

Your picking sounds mighty fine, clean and sweet. Singing is really on the money. Almost top marks...I have to deduct a mark or two for the hat free style  ...but all the same a great rendition of Pallet. Thanks for taking time out to mark the big day.

Colm

[Laura]

That was nice, Slim, and very much in keeping with his style!

I'm also going to crash the party early as I won't be around tomorrow.  I ran out of time to get a better take than this so please excuse the mistakes and memory loss! (Don't think I'll win any points for the hat effort either )

[Christopher Davis-Shannon]

I'll have to dig out my fedora for tomorrow;  i actually have a gig tomorrow night and am planning on doing a bunch of MJH for his birthday, I'll record something and get it up!

[colm kill paul]

Laura,

What a great version of a tricky John Hurt tune performed with hat style ! A great birthday present for my main man! Thanks for joining the party!

Christopher,

Good luck with the gig. It's good to know that there will be a live celebration happening too. Look forward to your post.

Colm

[colm kill paul]

Happy Twelvety-First Birthday (to paraphase Tolkien) Mississippi John Hurt!

Well this party has already started thanks to Norfolk Slim and Laura getting the tunes rolling!

Here is my tribute to John Hurt. His Guitar playing and music occupy a very special place in my life. This is my first attempt at video and it is a great way to improve. I'll be doing more.

This version of See See Rider is the one John Miller teaches on his DVD "The Guitar of Mississippi John Hurt, Vol 1". John has tabbed out perfectly MJH's performance of See See Rider from his late night sessions of 63/64 which are on the Legend CD. Unfortunately I can't yet play it perfectly...but will continue to endeavour towards that goal.

In addition to celebrating MJH's birthday I'd also like to thank JohnM for recording the DVD's "The Guitar of Mississippi John Hurt Vol.s 1 & 2". They are keys to the kingdom! Thanks John.

Colm

[fdspokane]

This is one of the best versions I've heard and the video is great too - I know Daddy John thanks you for this great birthday present.

Frank Delaney
Webmaster
The Mississippi John Hurt Foundation Avalon MS
www.msjohnhurtmuseum.com

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)

[Mike Shipman]

Hi Colm - geetings from a wet New Forest! great version + vid of See See Rider, so smartly attired too, but then thats to be expected after seeing your turn out at last years Euroweenie!
Are you able to get for this years gathering?.
Cheers, Mike.

[frankie]

that sounds great, colm! nicely done!

I had been mulling this one over, and in the meantime developed some kind of issue with Movie Maker that forces it to crash on startup...  still working that out, but maybe this'll do until I figger that out:

http://countryblues.bandcamp.com/track/monday-morning-blues

I was, in fact, wearing a hat when I recorded it!

[joe paul]

Happy birthday Mississippi John Hurt!
These are some great versions of his songs here, really enjoyed listening to them, thanks everyone.
Here's my take on Trouble I've had all my days. It's one of my favourites of his, the recording he did for the Library of Congress is a gem.

https://soundcloud.com/gordon-paul/trouble-ive-had-all-my-days-1

Gordon

[uncle bud]

Sounding real good, ladies and gents. Frankie, I was thinking of something on the banjo, but not that - that totally works, very cool.

I was a little surprised to see Waiting for You on the recent Discovery CD. I thought it was one of those songs he dug up after playing everything else. But It seems he and the Mrs. liked it and it was one of the tunes they did for Hoskins.

I'm trying the soundcloud thing, as it was sounding a little rough compressed down to the Weenie requirements.

https://soundcloud.com/unclebud-1/waiting-for-you

[Mr.OMuck]

A worthy candidate for honorifics and testimonials for sure. Good entries from all. I may have posted this some time ago but I'll add it here as my part of this tribute, late though it may be.