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Biographical Note
Thomas Bird Hoskins, known as "Tom" in general and as "Fang" to his friends, was a musician and blues music fan who teamed with Dick Spottswood to locate Mississippi John Hurt in March 1963. They had heard Hurt's 1928 recordings and, based on a clue from the song "Avalon blues" ("Avalon's my hometown, always on my mind"), Hoskins went to Mississippi and located Hurt in Avalon, which began the second phase of Hurt's career in music. Hoskins managed Hurt for a time, and stayed in contact with the family after Hurt died. Over the years, legal issues regarding contracts and royalties arose, the last of which was resolved after Hoskins died in 2002, age 60, in Tallahassee, Florida.