Question 1

True or false: Mississippi John Hurt was a sharecropper who never learned to read or write music.

Accepted Answer

False. He was a sharecropper, but he could read and write basic English, though he never learned musical notation.

Question 2

True or false: Hurt played guitar with only his thumb and index finger, using a unique two-finger picking style.

Accepted Answer

True. His signature style used just thumb and index finger, producing a smooth, syncopated sound rare among Delta blues players.

Question 3

True or false: Hurt was a trained classical pianist before turning to blues guitar in his twenties.

Accepted Answer

False. He was self-taught on guitar from age 9 and never played classical piano; his roots were in gospel and country blues.

Question 4

True or false: Mississippi John Hurt was discovered at a 1963 folk festival after being rediscovered by a musicologist.

Accepted Answer

True. He was rediscovered in 1963 by Tom Hoskins, who found him working on a farm in Avalon, Mississippi, leading to a late-career revival.

Question 5

True or false: Hurt performed at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, but was too nervous to play his best.

Accepted Answer

False. He performed at Newport in 1963 (not 1965) and charmed the audience with his calm, confident delivery.

Question 6

True or false: Hurt's song 'Candy Man' was originally a bawdy blues tune he adapted from a traditional folk song.

Accepted Answer

True. 'Candy Man' was based on an older folk song about a drug dealer, but Hurt sanitized it with a playful, upbeat arrangement.

Question 7

True or false: Hurt's 1928 recording sessions for Okeh Records produced all of his commercially released songs.

Accepted Answer

True. He recorded only 13 sides in 1928 for Okeh, which were his only commercial releases until his 1960s comeback.

Question 8

True or false: Hurt collaborated with Robert Johnson on several recordings in the 1930s.

Accepted Answer

False. There is no evidence they ever met or recorded together; Hurt's career was largely dormant in the 1930s while Johnson was active.

Mississippi John Hurt Trivia Questions