Last Sessions (Mississippi John Hurt album)

Last Sessions is an album by Mississippi John Hurt.[1][2] It was recorded at a Manhattan hotel in February and July 1966 shortly before Hurt's death that year, and released in 1972 by Vanguard Records.

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
Christgau's Record GuideA[4]
MusicHound Folk3/5[5]
The New Rolling Stone Record Guide[6]

Reviewing Last Sessions in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau wrote:

"For some reason folk specialists hold these clear if casual tapes in low esteem, but I think they stand with [Hurt's] other Vanguard music. Recorded in a Manhattan hotel in February and July 1966, shortly before he died, they capture the same playful warmth and quiet rhythmic assurance that marked all his work. These aren't qualities especially well-served by youth, which is one reason Hurt exerted instant artistic authority when he was rediscovered in 1963 at age seventy-one. From 'Funky Butt' to 'Shortnin' Bread,' this is a man who was always ready to meet his maker."[4]

The record was later regarded by Christgau as "one of those nearness-of-death albums", along with Bob Dylan's Time Out of Mind (1997), Warren Zevon's The Wind (2003), Neil Young's Prairie Wind (2005), and Johnny Cash's American VI: Ain't No Grave (2010).[7] In The New Rolling Stone Record Guide (1983), Dave Marsh reviewed Last Sessions within the context of Hurt's late-period music; while he had "lost some technical ability due to age" and "wheezes and rattles, clearly on his last legs", the album "does not surrender his marvelous spirit".[6]

Track listing
  1. Poor Boy, Long Ways From Home 2:12
  2. Boys, You're Welcome 3:00
  3. Joe Turner Blues 3:30
  4. First Shot Missed Him 1:40
  5. Farther Along 3:43
  6. Funky Butt 1:55
  7. Spider, Spider 1:25
  8. Waiting For You 3:28
  9. Shortnin' Bread 2:13
  10. Trouble, I've Had It All My Days 3:02
  11. Let The Mermaids Flirt With Me 3:20
  12. Good Morning, Carrie 1:58
  13. Nobody Cares For Me 3:42
  14. All Night Long 2:44
  15. Hey, Honey, Right Away 1:58
  16. You've Got To Die 3:28
  17. Goodnight, Irene 2:26

References
  1. Anthology of Country Blues Guitar - Page 87 =0739043285 Stefan Grossman - 2007 Last Sessions (Vanguard 79327) .
  2. The Blues Encyclopedia - Page 484 1135958327 Edward Komara, Peter Lee - 2004 - HURT, JOHN SMITH MISSISSIPPI JOHN Influence During his lifetime Hurt's influence was primarily local, a situation that did ... April 15, 1965);
  3. Eder, Bruce (n.d.). "Last Sessions - Mississippi John Hurt". AllMusic. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
  4. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: H". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved February 26, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  5. Walters, Neal; Mansfield, Brian, eds. (1998). "Mississippi John Hurt". MusicHound Folk: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink. ISBN 157859037X.
  6. Marsh, Dave (1983). "Mississippi John Hurt". In Marsh, Dave; Swenson, John (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Record Guide. Random House/Rolling Stone Press. pp. 237–238. ISBN 0394721071.
  7. Christgau, Robert (May 2010). "Consumer Guide". MSN Music. Retrieved February 27, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
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