Hurt

The arrival of Dylan Pyles’ 20-minute Solo Acoustic Guitar, Vol. 1 on streaming services sent me down a redemptive rabbit hole.  Vastly different from the lo-fi freak-folk of his 2019 album Popular Songs for the Heart, Pyles’ genial picking on the EP is in the sublime tradition of John Fahey and Glenn Jones, solo guitar masters in thrall of Mississippi John Hurt’s soothing country blues. 

As reassuring as Mister Rogers and as profound as John Milton, Hurt isn’t merely one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century.  He’s a spiritual healer.  Bingeing on Hurt while riding out a rough patch bolsters me.  I suspect his songs are universal panaceas. 

Are you sad?  “Candy Man” will set you straight.  Lovelorn?  Try “C.C. Rider.”  Wanna party?  I recommend “Corrinna, Corrinna.”  Need a laugh?  “Funky Butt” to the rescue.  In an existential quandary?  You need “Here I Am, Oh Lord, Send Me.”  Kids underfoot?  Introduce them to “You Are My Sunshine.”  Can’t sleep?  “Make Me a Pallet On Your Floor” is a sublime lullaby.  Curious about the origins of roguish rap?  “Big Leg Blues” is shocking.  And as many readers of this missive already know, Hurts’ 1928 sessions for the Okeh label are among the best sounds ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere.


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I created an audio feature about the barroom preacher Carl Butler for KCUR.

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I write weekly concert recommendations for The Kansas City Star.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)