The gentle spirit of Mississippi John Hurt; and the shack under the moon. Listening to the way he says the word BURDEN. "Burden down, Lord. Burden down, Lord. Since I've laid my Burden down..."
(Also: you should all check out another version of the song by The Elders McIntorsh And Edwards' Sanctified Singers, available on Smithsonian. It GLOWS-- listen for yourself. Think COGIC, Memphis, Tennessee, 1920s.)
4 comments:
love the way you captured his shoulder...as if he were playing inside the painting. burden down, lord, shoulder up! Urs
Yes, Steph!
One thing I like about it is the snow. It helps create/define the space. I'm calling it snow, but maybe it's something else. If it is snow, from my first gut impression (i.e. Mississippi John Hurt on tour in Vancouver) I also love the idea of it snowing indoors... Snowfall can be very beautiful, just like this song.
Burden down like snow.
Or maybe those pieces/particles are instead representing the sound and, by extension, his spirit, in the space, eminating. Well, I'm starting to make him sound like a Saint (call the Vatican, miraculous St. MJH!) Many possibilities, and I like being kept on my visual toes...
One thing too, some of the most seemingly gentle people are perhaps some of the most tortured, I suspect, keeping it in, internalizing pain. MJH has struck me this way, partly why I like him, got the blues deep down in his soul. And his voice sounds a bit like it's been soaked in whiskey for a couple of decades. You know, it's really hard to say. When you like something, sometimes you just like it; hard to explain why. Maybe one gets into trouble when trying to explain too much...mysterious MJH.
I like how his guitar is the brightest object in the painting; emanating light in darkness
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