Posted by Ari Eisinger on March 7, 2006, 8:55 pm, in reply to "Book on Mississippi John Hurt" --Previous Message--
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Thanks for the update. Please keep us posted.
: Book – ‘The Life and times of Mississippi John
: Hurt’.
:
: I have occasionally reported here
: information on a book that I am writing on
: 'The Life and Times of Mississippi John
: Hurt', with Mary Frances Hurt, John’s
: grand-daughter. Neil Harpe is providing
: illustrations. I figured that those of you
: who are interested might like to have an
: update.
:
: I have been researching this book for two
: and a half years. My day job kept getting in
: the way, so the only sensible thing to do
: was to give up the day job! Apart from
: earning enough to keep wood on the fire and
: food in our bellies, I am working more or
: less full time on the book now. It is a
: huge piece of work and I had not realised
: until a recent stock-take how much
: information I had gathered.
:
: As many of you will be aware John Hurt the
: person was even more remarkable than John
: Hurt the musician! I feel that it is
: important to reflect this, so the book has
: evolved and expanded into something of a
: social history covering the settlement of
: African-Americans and their music in
: Mississippi and the evolution of John’s
: special brand of music, incorporating
: elements of work songs, ragtime, spirituals
: and blues. It will include a consideration
: of his early musical influences and perhaps
: equally interestingly, the local music that
: did not appear to influence him!
:
: I have pieced together many facts and
: anecdotes about life in the Mississippi hill
: country around the early part of the last
: century, and during the twenties to the
: sixties and have established a huge library
: on Mississippi history! The book will cover,
: apart from his music, the issues that
: occupied John’s life such as his work,
: family, and friends as well as local and
: global events eg WW1 (I recently located
: John’s original draft registration card),
: and the great Mississippi flood of 1927, a
: year before he made the trip to Memphis to
: make those first memorable recordings. The
: impacts of racism and the story of the civil
: rights movement influenced much of every day
: life and this will also feature.
:
: Numerous old friends and family of John’s
: from around Carroll County, MS have helped
: me by patiently allowing me to record
: conversations with them. Similarly many of
: the people who knew John during the period
: of his rediscovery between 1963 and 1966,
: including some involved in the recording of
: those first Piedmont records, have been so
: helpful.
:
: The development of my close friendship with
: Mary Frances Hurt, John’s grand-daughter has
: been perhaps the greatest privilege of this
: adventure and Mary has provided valuable
: information on the Hurt family genealogy and
: wonderful and touching anecdotes of her
: childhood in Mississippi.
:
: Much secondary information has been gathered
: from transcriptions of interviews with John
: and from record sleeves, etc. I have also
: gleaned much material from information
: posted on this and other forums (especially
: from john4y). Outfidel is working on a
: discography that will be included in the
: book. I will make every effort to fully
: acknowledge every piece of information, no
: matter how small. So, if you have important
: information that you feel should be in this
: book, and you want a mention, please let me
: know
:
: I can only provide a short summary here but
: I hope that it is of some interest. It is a
: truly amazing story and I feel so privileged
: to be telling it; and what a journey of
: discovery!
:
: Delta Dan
: 7 March 2006
:
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