Today!

This album was the first that Mississippi John Hurt recorded for Vanguard Records in the three years before his death from a heart attack in November 1966. It followed two other albums released on Piedmont Records in 1963 and 1964 that immediately followed his re-discovery by musicologist Tom Hoskins the former year. Hoskins had tracked him down to the small town of Avalon, Mississippi and, after assuring himself that he had actually found the right man, he tempted him back to performance and recording. John Hurt had recorded way back in the twenties for Okeh Records in Memphis and New York, but had then dropped out of the musical world, settling for a steady working life on farms in cotton fields and jobs on the river and the railroad. Still working the fields when found by Hoskins, John was a man who was satisfied with his lot, but was eventually persuaded to re-connect with the music industry with appearances at folk clubs, college campuses and even at the well-established Newport Folk Festival. Throughout it all his wife and family remained in Avalon while John's playing and singing were embraced by legions of new fans.