I just recieved "D.C. Blues, The Library of Congress Recordings-Vol 1. Released 2004 on Fuel 2000 Records, this is an excellent collection. The 2 CD set contains 35 high quality recordings containing many of Hurt's more well-known tunes (Candy Man, Pay Day, Stackolee) & many of his more obscure but nonetheless delightful songs.

    One thing that excited me is the clarity of his guitar in these recordings. Some of the subtleties of his finger-picking can be more readily heard & perhaps can be more readily figured out!
   
    The lyrics are also clearer than on most of the other Hurt recordings I have heard.
   
    Hurt was first recorded in 1928, & many of the songs from those sessions became Hurt standards during his 63-66 "rediscov ery" period, howbe it, the songs had "matured" over the years & were considerably different than the '28 version. However, in this collection, Hurt does a few of the songs in the 1928 style (but wit h the 1962 recording quality!)

    As usual with Hurt, you will find verses or even whole stanzas not found in other versions of many of the songs.

    Because this is a "live" album, mistakes (missed chords, lyric flubbing, etc) can be heard, but, undaunted, Hurt keeps on keeping on. To my delight, between-song chatter was left in.
   
    According to a tag on the CD case, All Music Guide gives this collection four & a half stars. Whoever the hell ALL Music is, I'll agree...hell, I'd give it 5!

    If you enjoy MJH, get this. If you aren't familiar with him, here's a great place to learn!

Ken