Last of the Country Gentlemen

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.[2] 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.[2]

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.[2]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	8.0/10[3]
Metacritic	77/100[4]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]
The Daily Telegraph	[6]
Financial Times	[7]
The Guardian	[8]
Mojo	[9]
Pitchfork	4.0/10[10]
Q	[11]
Record Collector	[12]
Rolling Stone	[13]
Uncut	[14]

Uncut placed the album at number 5 on its list of "Top 50 albums of 2011",[15] while Mojo, Rolling Stone, and Q ranked it 7, 33, and 42, respectively.[16][17][18]

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".[19]

• Written and performed by Josh T. Pearson
• Published by Mute Song Ltd.
• Produced by Peter Sasala
• Recorded by Martin J. Fiedler at Klangbild Studios, Berlin
• Mixed by Gareth Jones at Mute Studio, London; assisted by Neil Quinlan (except "Sweetheart I Ain't Your Christ" mixed by Martin J. Fiedler at Klangbild Studios, Berlin)
• Additional recording and mixing by David "Saxon" Greenep at Mute Studio, London
• Strings arranged and performed by Mike Siddell (3, 6), Warren Ellis (3, 4), Will Calderbank (3), and SixToes (4).