Lightnin’ Hopkins ft Sonny Terry - Last Night Blues (Bluesville Series)

Last Night Blues captures Lightnin' Hopkins and Sonny Terry midway between Texas blues and Piedmont laments, now pressed on 180-gram vinyl by QRP via Acoustic Sounds.

It was the second of three records the duo recorded together for Bluesville in the early 1960s, and the one where the pairing worked best. Hopkins was already a blues legend, a Houston guitarist who could turn a chord into a confession, while Terry had built a career playing harmonica as a second voice, hooting behind Brownie McGhee on countless Piedmont tunes. On paper, it's a strange combination. On the disc, recorded in Rudy Van Gelder's studio, there are two musicians who listen rather than direct.

The album is deliberately stripped down: guitar, harmonica, bass, nothing to hide. Rocky Mountain opens with Hopkins' guitar twirling before the vocals come in, Conversation Blues does exactly what its title promises, a call and response with no lag between them, and Last Night Blues slows to a nighttime march, Terry's harmonica wailing beneath Hopkins' half-spoken lines.

Hard to Love a Woman is the most sensitive chord on either side, closer to confession than song, exactly what a good blues record should offer: no frills, no filler, just two men exchanging the truth. For anyone looking for that feeling on vinyl, this reissue brings you closer to the experience of being in the room.