In the waning months of 1999, legendary Seattle band Screaming Trees went back into the studio one last time. Having been released from their label and realizing that the outlook for a new deal was grim, the Trees entered Stone Gossard’s Studio Litho to preserve the last batch of songs the band had written for their final, unreleased album. Produced by drummer Barrett Martin, the sessions were raw, energetic and inspiring. Unfortunately, these sessions proved to be their last, and on June 25th, 2000 the Trees played their final concert in front of 20,000 people at Seattle’s Memorial Stadium, after which the band members went their separate ways. Twelve years later, in the winter of 2011, Barrett and long-time friend and producer Jack Endino found the 2″ master tapes, and carefully transferred the songs into a digital format, bringing those final 10 songs back to life. The music still had the raw, stripped down quality that the Trees were known for: Mark Lanegan’s smokey baritone was in top form, as well as Gary Lee Conner’s guitar work, Van Conner’s bass lines, and Barrett Martin’s drumming. Other rock luminaries had appeared on those 1999 sessions, including REM’s Peter Buck, who played acoustic and electric guitar on several of the tracks, as well as Trees touring guitarist Josh Homme, who played on the song “Crawlspace.” After hearing the new mixes by Jack Endino, the band decided to release the album through Barrett’s imprint label, Sunyata Records, with original artwork done by renowned artist Erin Currier. The result is the last album the Screaming Trees recorded titled, “Last Words: The Final Recordings.