Let the Mermaids Flirt with Me: A Tribute to Mississippi John Hurt is the latest release from blues guitarist, singer, and educator Erin Harpe, available now. Out on her own Erin Harpe Music imprint in partnership with VizzTone Label Group, the album honors one of her earliest and deepest influences.
Following her acclaimed self-produced acoustic album Meet Me in the Middle, which earned Album of the Year from the New England Music Awards, Harpe showcases her skills as arranger and producer with intimate, stripped-down interpretations of Hurt’s classics. “When I listen to the blues, it makes me want to cry—it’s a part of me—but before making this album, I felt I was neglecting the acoustic blues woman in me,” she shares. The album emerges as a refuge of evergreen blues for desperate times.
Harpe is joined on the album by her husband, bassist Jim Countryman. Together, they lead the electric blues quartet Erin Harpe & the Delta Swingers and the Afro-pop group Lovewhip, and perform as the playful acoustic duo CBD—Country Blues Duo.
An in-demand fingerstyle educator, Harpe released Women of the Country Blues Guitar through Stefan Grossman’s Guitar Workshop in 2016. Her career highlights include recognition as a Boston Music Award winner, five-time Blues Music Award nominee, New England Music Award winner, and International Blues Challenge semifinalist. Her songs have appeared on Showtime’s Shameless, MTV’s Veronica Mars, Paris Hilton’s BFF, and Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. She has jammed with Phil Wiggins (Cephas & Wiggins), Warner Williams and Jay Summerour, Eleanor Ellis, Jontavious Willis, and James Montgomery, and opened for ZZ Top, T-Model Ford, Honeyboy Edwards, Roy Bookbinder, and James Cotton.
Blues was the first music Harpe remembers hearing, particularly Piedmont-style fingerpicking popularized on the East Coast by Blind Blake, Josh White, Rev. Gary Davis, and Cephas & Wiggins. Her entry into the style came via Arlo Guthrie’s Alice’s Restaurant, which she learned to accompany as a teenager with her father’s guidance. Her father, a guitar collector and author of The Stella Guitar Book, recorded a duo album with her, Delta Blues Duets, while her mother, a graphic designer and guitarist, introduced her to the folk music scene. Blues provided a soundtrack to backyard jams, barbershop hoedowns, and teenage introspection.
Reflecting on the album as well as her formative years, Harpe says:
“This album was a real labor of love. I’ve always loved Mississippi John Hurt’s music, since I was a little girl! Listening to my dad play his songs around the house. I learned several of Hurt’s songs as a teenager, and his guitar style has greatly influenced my playing, with its alternating bass thumb-picking and syncopated melodic runs. So when I was asked to play a fundraiser for the Mississippi John Hurt Foundation at Caffe Lena in 2023, I jumped at it! Prepping for that show got me revisiting Hurt’s large catalog of recordings, which has been a wonderful journey and a nostalgic one, since my father played most (if not all) of these songs at one time or another. In fact, my dad still plays, and I’m so glad I was able to get together with him during this time to get some great pointers on Mississippi John Hurt’s playing.
“I self-produced this album, and the arrangements of the songs are my own. It was a pleasure working out how I wanted to play and sing them, and creating bass lines with my partner, bassist Jim Countryman. We recorded live at our home studio over several sessions, fitting it in between our busy tour schedule. I believe we stayed true to Mississippi John Hurt’s style and essence!”
Ahead of the full album, Harpe and Countryman released their take on Mississippi John Hurt’s 1928 classic “Candy Man.” Her signature snappy fingerpicking and nuanced vocals meet his syncopated ukulele bass for a buoyant, rhythmic rendition that honors Hurt’s timeless groove while adding her own modern flair.
