Said one reviewer/historian, “Hurt is not a raw, harsh chronicler of the human condition in the manner of many Mississippi-shaped blues storytellers. There is an uncommon gentleness in his work.”
The Smithsonian reports, “A museum honoring legendary blues musician Mississippi John Hurt has burned to the ground. Located in northern Mississippi’s Carroll County, the small Mississippi John Hurt Museum was found engulfed in flames early Wednesday morning, and the building has been reduced to ash. As yet, the cause is unknown.
Located in northern Mississippi’s Carroll County, the small Mississippi John Hurt Museum was found engulfed in flames early Wednesday morning, and the building has been reduced to ash.
The museum, a 200-year-old shack with a tin roof, was once Hurt’s home. The country-blues singer and guitarist was born in the late 1800s, and he lived most of his life in Avalon, an all-Black town in the eastern Mississippi Delta. Hurt first recorded music in the 1920s, but he didn’t achieve national recognition until his talents were rediscovered during the American folk revival in the ’60s. From 1963 until his death in 1966, he played at colleges, coffeehouses and before thousands of fans at the Newport Folk Festival.
This The shack was burned to the ground just hours after it had been awarded the designation as a historical landmark.
The museum was located on an unmarked dirt road and manned by a local caretaker who allowed entry to visitors who were able to reach him by phone, per Smithsonian. According to the Mississippi John Hurt Foundation, run by Mary Frances Hurt, the building was a “humble three-room shack befitting of a gentle farm hand with an amazing affinity for the guitar.” It was furnished with items that either belonged to or were reminiscent of “Daddy John”; “Maxwell House coffee cans and railroad spikes are in abundance,” per the foundation.
BNN Breaking news notes the museum’s designation as an Historical Landmark was in place only hours before the museum was reduced to ashes. The cause of the fire remains under invesigation, with the Mississippi John Hurt Foundation suspecting arson. This suspicion points to a deeper, more insidious threat to the memorials of African-American excellence and history.
Per BNN, “Avalon, once a thriving all-Black community, has lost one of its last connections to a rich past marked by the soulful rhythms of blues. The destruction of the museum represents not just the loss of a building, but the erasure of a narrative integral to understanding the cultural tapestry of the region. The museum offered a tangible link to the past, allowing visitors to step into the world of Mississippi John Hurt and, by extension, into the history of blues music itself.
Smithsonian Magazine
