Last Sessions (Mississippi John Hurt album)

{{Infobox album

| name = Last Sessions

| type = compilation

| artist = Mississippi John Hurt

| cover = Mississippi John Hurt - Last Sessions.png

| alt =

| released = 1972

| recorded = February – July 1966

| studio =

| genre = Blues

| length = {{duration|m=45|s=44}}

| label = Vanguard

| producer = Patrick Sky

| prev_title = The Best of Mississippi John Hurt

| prev_year = 1970

| next_title = Volume One of a Legacy

| next_year = 1975

}}

Last Sessions is an album by Mississippi John Hurt.Grossman, Stefan. Anthology of Country Blues Guitar (2007), p. 87. ISBN 0739043285. Last Sessions (Vanguard 79327).Komara, Edward; Lee, Peter. The Blues Encyclopedia (2004), p. 484. ISBN 1135958327. "Hurt, John Smith Mississippi John Influence during his lifetime Hurt's influence was primarily local, a situation that did ... April 15, 1965" 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

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{cite web|last=Eder|first=Bruce|date=n.d.|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/last-sessions-mw0000201294|title=Last Sessions - Mississippi John Hurt|publisher=AllMusic|accessdate=February 27, 2019}}

| rev2 = Christgau's Record Guide

| rev2score = A

| rev3 = MusicHound Folk

| rev3score = 3/5{{cite book|editor1-last=Walters|editor1-first=Neal|editor2-last=Mansfield|editor2-first=Brian|year=1998|chapter=Mississippi John Hurt|title=MusicHound Folk: The Essential Album Guide|publisher=Visible Ink|isbn=157859037X}}

| rev4 = The New Rolling Stone Record Guide

| rev4score = {{Rating|4|5}}

| rev5 = The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings

| rev5score = {{Rating|3|4}}{{cite book |last1=Russell |first1=Tony |last2=Smith |first2=Chris |title=The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings |year=2006 |edition=|publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-140-51384-4|page=298}}

}}

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

{{quote|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.{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|authorlink=Robert Christgau|year=1981|title=Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|publisher=Ticknor & Fields|isbn=089919026X|chapter=Consumer Guide '70s: H|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=H&bk=70|accessdate=February 26, 2019|via=robertchristgau.com}}}}

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).{{cite web|last=Christgau|first=Robert|date=May 2010|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cg2010-05.php|title=Consumer Guide|website=MSN Music|accessdate=February 27, 2019|via=robertchristgau.com}} 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".{{cite book|last=Marsh|first=Dave|authorlink=Dave Marsh|chapter=Mississippi John Hurt|pages=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstoner00mars/page/237 237–238]|editor1-last=Marsh|editor1-first=Dave|editor2-last=Swenson|editor2-first=John|year=1983|title=The New Rolling Stone Record Guide|publisher=Random House/Rolling Stone Press|isbn=0394721071}}