Question 1

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

Accepted Answer

True. Mississippi John Hurt was a sharecropper by trade and never received formal musical training. He never learned to read or write musical notation.

Question 2

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 3

True or false: Mississippi John Hurt performed at the Newport Folk Festival in 1963.

Accepted Answer

True. He performed at the 1963 festival, not 1965, and his calm, confident delivery helped launch his comeback.

Question 4

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 5

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 6

True or false: Mississippi John Hurt recorded his first sessions for Okeh Records in 1928.

Accepted Answer

True. Hurt recorded several sides for Okeh Records in 1928, including 'Candy Man Blues' and 'Ain't No Tellin'. He later worked as a sharecropper until his rediscovery in 1963.

Question 7

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

Accepted Answer

False. He recorded only 13 sides in 1928, but after his 1963 rediscovery, he released multiple albums, including 'Today!' and 'The Immortal Mississippi John Hurt'. Thus, those sessions did not account for all his commercial output.

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