The Archie Edwards Blues Heritage Foundation


"Uh-oh. I gotta go save my brother's backside again." - Archie Edwards, Saturday Night Hop

1999 Workshop Schedule

All workshops are held at Archie's Barbershop unless otherwise noted.
The Barbershop is located at 2007 Bunker Hill Rd., N.E. Washington, D.C.

Donation is $10 per workshop

All workshop participants are invited to stay afterwards for the weekly acoustic blues jam, which begins around 1 pm.

April 1999

Saturday April 24 - 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Class: Guitar-Introduction to playing the music of Mississippi John Hurt
Teacher: Neil Harpe
Level: Beginner-Intermediate

Participants should bring their own guitars. Basic knowledge of first position chords will be assumed.

Neil Harpe, a renowned local musician and artist, has spent many years studying the country blues style of John Hurt and others. In this workshop Neil will introduce the basic skills needed to play in the country style so unique to Hurt's playing.

Mississippi John Hurt stands among the giants of the blues. His gentle yet complex country style of playing and singing enjoyed a resurgence in attention and popularity thanks in part to the Blues renaissance of the early to mid-sixties. Archie Edwards had grown up listening to John Hurt and came to know him well when Hurt settled briefly in the D.C. area. Hurt and other blues men (such as Skip James) passed through Archie's barbershop on their tours of east coast coffee houses and festivals following the newly rediscovered interest in their music. Archie and John Hurt remained close friends up until Hurt's death in 1966.