Release Date: 1966.
Recording Date: 1964.
Recording Time: 43 minutes.
Release Info: VSD-79220, Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo.
Today! is the second studio album, but third body of work recorded by folk/country blues musician Mississippi John Hurt. It was released in 1966 by Vanguard Records. This album contains some of the first commercial material recorded after his "rediscovery" in 1963, and is the first he recorded for Vanguard. The album spans several genres and styles of music, ranging from traditional blues and folk songs, to country, to African-American spirituals. Along with Hurt's two previous releases, Today! helped to reveal his work to a wider folk audience. In 2009, the album was one of the twenty-five selections that were added to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry.
Hurt had made commercial recordings for the now-defunct Okeh Records in 1928; these did not sell well, and he drifted back into obscurity in southern Mississippi. In 1952, Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music, which contained two tracks by Hurt, was released. As well as this, a man had discovered a copy of Hurt's "Avalon Blues", which gave the name of Hurt's home town, Avalon, Mississippi. In 1963, Tom Hoskins and Richard Spotswood, two folk enthusiasts, located him in Avalon using the song. Hoskins convinced him to move to Washington, D.C., where there would be plenty of opportunities to perform to an increasing folk audience. There, he made his first post-war recordings, which were released on the Gryphon label as Folk Songs and Blues. Hurt was invited to perform at the Newport Folk Festival in 1963, where he was greeted as a "living legend". Following this performance, he began to tour around various universities, and recorded a second album in 1964. Through touring, Hurt's audience continued to grow, which prompted a recording contract with Vanguard Records and the release of his third album, Today!, in 1966. A similar recording and performance schedule was adopted by the fellow bluesman Skip James around this same time, who also recorded for Vanguard an album of the same name.
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A key classic from the rediscovery years of Mississippi John Hurt – an artist who'd made his first records in the late 20s, but then disappeared for decades before stepping back into the studio in the 60s! The album's got a style that's very different than Hurt's early 78s – and really takes advantage of the increased recording quality to open up his music with a sense of warmth and imagination – almost currents learned from the hipper folk artists that the Vanguard label was recording at the time, used to bring John's sounds forth in ways that really get past some of the more cliched modes of representing rural blues on record. The set is one that really lets you hear the immediate influence that Hurt was having on younger musicians during this period – and titles include "Talking Casey", "Candy Man", "I'm Satisfied", "Louis Collins", "Coffee Blues", "Beulah Land", and "If You Don't Want Me Baby". (Dusty Groove, Inc.)
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Today is Mississippi John Hurt's first and finest studio release since his "rediscovery" on his Avalon farm by folklorist Tom Hoskins in 1963. Eclipsed possibly only by his earlier 1928 Sessions, this album shows a more mature Hurt picking his way through standards and originals after the Depression years and Hurt's fall into obscurity before the folk revival of the 1960s. It shows, however, that all that the great bluesman has lost is years; his voice retains its characteristic Buddha-esque warmth and it is still difficult to believe that there is just one man playing on the seemingly effortless guitar work. The music on the album comes from a variety of different influences, from the fun and poppy "Hot Time in Old Town Tonight" and "Coffee Blues," to the bluesy standards "Candy Man" (Hurt's most famous song) and "Spike Driver's Blues" to the soulful spirituals "Louis Collins" and "Beulah Land." Hurt's tranquil guitar work -- mixing country, Scottish folk, and Delta blues -- strings all of the songs along the same simple and elegant thread. Hurt himself never could explain his guitar playing, as he used to say, "I just make it sound like I think it ought to." Regardless, that sound, along with a mellow and heartfelt voice, wizened here by decades, combine to make Today an unforgettable whole. A truly essential album of the folk revival, unrivaled in its beauty and warmth. ~ David Freedlander
Credits: Design – Jules Halfant; Guitar [Accompanying Himself] – Mississippi John Hurt; Lacquer Cut By – Matthew Lutthans; Photography By [Cover] – Ed Freeman; Recording Supervisor [Production Supervisor] – Patrick Sky; Sleeve Notes – Nat Hentoff; Sleeve Notes [Obi] – Scott Billington; Written-By – John Hurt* (tracks: A1 to A3, A5, B1, B2, B4, B5).
Tracklist:
- A1. Pay Day [4:18]
- A2. I'm Satisfied [2:50]
- A3. Candy Man [2:53]
- A4. Make Me A Pallet On The Floor [4:29]
- A5. Talking Casey [5:04]
- A6. Corinna, Corinna [1:51]
- B1. Coffee Blues [3:43]
- B2. Louis Collins [4:04]
- B3. Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight [3:03]
- B4. If You Don't Want Me Baby [3:18]
- B5. Spike Driver's Blues [3:24]
- B6. Beulah Land [3:43]