Last of the Country Gentlemen

Last of the Country Gentlemen
Studio album by Josh T. Pearson
Released	March 14, 2011
Genre	Folk music
Length	58:50
Label	Mute Records
Producer	Peter Sasala

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
Drowned in Sound	10/10 link
Evening Standard	10/10 link
FACT	link
The 405	9/10 link
Mojo	link
The Music Fix	9/10 link
Music OMH	link
Q	link
Rolling Stone	link
Subba Cultcha	10/10 link
Uncut	link
Pitchfork	4.0/10 link

Last of the Country Gentlemen is a single disc album release from Texan musician Josh T. Pearson.

The album was recorded in Berlin in two nights, freshly written and committed to tape after Pearson saw how the songs affected audiences when he played them live.

The recording, which was released in March 2011 by Mute Records is the first solo album from Pearson.

All the songs on the new album (the first since 2001) are all new, according to Josh T. Pearson. "The last couple of years I got sober and started working again with a little more discipline. Before I was writing all the time but never finishing," he told Q magazine. If there was any pressure at first for a new material, in a couple of years it was gone:

I disappeared for a while, I needed to get out of Texas, get on the road, see some of the world. I don't like being told what to do, I guess. People kept telling me I had to put out an album. I only want to put out a good record and if you put out a good record it comes with a cost. It'll demand more things from you than you're willing to give. I haven't seen a dime from the Lift... records in eight years at least, so it wasn't like a constant reminder that people were still interested.

The album, recorded in "cold, cold Berlin", came as a result of a relationship he described as "pretty heartbreaking" and was difficult to create. "I went grey overnight... It was one of the most painful times of my life. I can't listen to it. I haven't listened to it since we've finished it", he said. For a while Pearson thought the album shouldn't be released at all, so painful was the feel. "It's why people go to a priest - so no one else hears you. But playing songs live seemed to help people. I don't know if it's a big mistake, but it's coming out now. Maybe it can do some good," he said.

Uncut placed the album at number 5 on its list of "Top 50 albums of 2011", while Mojo, Rolling Stone, and Q ranked it 7, 33, and 42, respectively.

David Edwards of Drowned in Sound gave the album a rare 10/10 review and lauded its emotional power, stating "We share and revere in his redemption, rarely has something so physically fragile sounded so mighty in its emotional resonance. A truly magnificent record"

Written & performed by Josh T. Pearson. Published by Mute Song Ltd.

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