“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.
it is still difficult to believe that there is just one man playing on the seemingly effortless guitar work … 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, 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.”
In 2009, the album was one of the twenty-five selections that were added to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry
The Fat Angel Sings 