'Mississippi' John Hurt

The warm, amiable sound of Mississippi John Hurt is one of the earliest and most powerful influences in country blues. The organic ease of his singing belied an innovative level of craft along with an astounding fingerpicking guitar technique. Born in 1893, Hurt began performing in the early 1900s, and made some seminal recordings for Okeh in 1928. Subsequently, he traded in the musician's life for farm work until his rediscovery in the early '60s, whereupon he made a series of excellent new recordings and achieved great renown for his rural folk/country style.