The 40 Essential Albums of 1967

Of all the rediscovered bluesmen of the folk revival, Mississippi John Hurt was the least diminished by age because he was so unassuming to begin with. Having first recorded at thirty-five in 1928, he was seventy-three when he cut this posthumously released collection, which showcases his intricately unflashy fingerpicking, begins and ends with hymns and reprises both his moral take on "Stagolee" and his own fashion-conscious "Richland Woman Blues": "With rosy-red garters/Pink hose on my feet/Turkey-red bloomers/With a rumble seat."