- Format: LP
- Label: Monk
- Genre: Blues, Soul, Funk
The songs on this album are especially significant because they represent the only existing recordings of John Hurt prior to the early 1960s when he was "rediscovered" by blues revivalists. In 1928, an unknown Mississippi sharecropper named John Hurt, played regular barn dances behind a white fiddle player who soon recommended Hurt to Okeh Records for recording. Okeh took the fiddle player's advice and recorded two sessions with Hurt, one in Memphis and one in NYC, of which only a single (Nobody's Dirty Business / Frankie) was ever recorded and promptly forgotten. Hurt spent the next 35 years sharecropping, and working for the railroad (where he learned songs like "Spike Driver Blues", a variation on "John Henry"). "Avalon Blues", an ode to his home town, was a song Hurt wrote during his recording session in NYC in 1928 and also the song that led to his rediscovery. Mississippi John Hurt today is one of the most appreciated of the Delta blues musicians, perhaps because his unique style makes him particularly accessible to modern audiences. Hurt, who died in 1966, lived just long enough to see his music finally appreciated by a wider audience.
Tracks - Side A: 1. Frankie 2. Nobody's Dirty Business 3. Ain't No Tellin' 4. Louis Collins 5. Avalon Blues 6. Big Leg Blues 7. Stack O' Lee Side B: 1. Candy Man Blues 2. Got The Blues (Can't Be Satisfied) 3. Blessed Be The Name 4. Praying On The Old Camp Ground 5. Blue Harvest Blues 6. Spike Driver Blues
