Week 58:
".....brinnggg....."
A Blues
Scrapper Blackwell
Scrapper Blackwell
Hi. I love this site. As a long time player of blues guitar I’m finding a lot of great songs and information that I wasn’t aware of. I do have a problem with one entry, though. Your entry of “James Alley Blues” by Richard “Rabbit” Brown has the wrong picture with it. That picture, I believe, is a picture of Mississippi John Hurt. I remember seeing that same picture in a book way back in the ’70s before the internet. In searching for Richard “Rabbit” Brown I did find that picture credited to be one of him, but also as a picture of John Hurt, which I believe to be correct. Maybe there are no pictures of Brown. The internet is full of wrong information, unfortunately, scattered in amongst accurate information, and I think this picture is a case of that. I noticed this right away because I was familiar with the picture from before. Anyway, kudos to you for putting together this great resource. I will be exploring it for quite some time.
Jack Cook
Hi Jack,
It’s great that you are getting something from the site!
I looked into the photo, and while there is no definite proof either way, I think you have a real case to say that it is indeed an image of John Hurt. If it’s not, you’ve got an equally strong case to suggest John Hurt and Rabbit Brown were identical twins! It looks very, very much like John, and even has that relaxed, good natured, half smile that John was famous for.
Thanks for the feed back – I’ve updated the page and replaced the photo with an image of the original 78 of James Alley Blues. I try to be as accurate as possible and I really appreciate you pointing out this very probable error on my part.
Thanks again!
rpc