Music » Honky-Tonk Music

Release Date: 1990-10-17, Audio CD, Mercury Nashville

Release Date: 1999-11-16, Audio CD, Tee Vee Records

With a legend like Hank, than man who largely dragged country music into the modern age, the question is how do you pick just 40 of his songs? There were the immediately obvious biggies like "Hey Good Lookin'," "Jambalaya," and "Move It On Over," but almost everything was a gem in one way or another. Whether this collection is the greatest hits or not will depend on the listener, but for anyone with even the slightest curiosity about country music, it's essential listening. Hank was a landmark of the genre, and to hear him is to understand how country could change from rural to urban. Essential listening for everyone. --Chris Nickson

Release Date: 1995-01-01, Audio CD, Mca Special Products

Here's a career that defies explanation. Ray Price, the father of the Texas shuffle, achieved dance-hall immortality in 1956 with "Crazy Arms," with its walking bass; heavily bowed, single-string fiddle; and slightly tetched lyrics. He may never have topped it, but hits like "City Lights," "The Other Woman," and "Heartaches by the Number" proved it was no fluke. Price's big, mellow voice made country music sound erotic. Then in 1967 he threw away his honky-tonk reign with "Danny Boy" of all things, cut with a 47-piece orchestra. That one may have left something to be desired, but his 1970 reading of Kris Kristofferson's "For the Good Times" was certainly as earthy and compelling as Countrypolitan got. It's hard not to want more Harlan Howard and Hank Cochran songs, and less Jim Weatherly, but Price is as contrary as country stars come, and this set represents him accurately. --John Morthland

No Description Available.
Genre: Country & Western
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 27-OCT-1992

Most of the world knows Tammy Wynette only because "Stand by Your Man" cracked the pop Top 20. There's so much more to Wynette, though, than just that misunderstood hit, and Anniversary is a superb one-disc introduction to the wide world of Wynette: the heart-wrenchingly realistic tales of crumbling marriages and confused kids ("D-I-V-O-R-C-E," "I Don't Wanna Play House"); the sweet duets with husband George Jones ("Golden Ring"); the sisterly advice ("Woman to Woman"); the gratefulness for true love ("Good Lovin',"); the struggle for independence ("Til I Can Make It on My Own"). The 20 hit singles here flesh out the complex point of view behind "Stand by Your Man," reminding that gender politics are always emotional, personal, and capable of breaking your heart. --David Cantwell

In an age when barroom-'n'-cheatin' songs hit country radio program directors' wastebaskets quicker than you can say "Foolin' Around," it's good to remember Gary Stewart. The Kentucky native kicked around for years before breaking big in 1975 with the likes of "Drinkin' Thing," "Out of Hand," and "She's Actin' Single (I'm Drinkin' Doubles)." If anything, those hard-driving plaints were soon eclipsed by the rocking "Your Place or Mine (I Really Don't Care)" and "Ten Years of This" (a bitter soliloquy delivered by a man to his wife on the occasion of their wedding anniversary)--two cuts on which Stewart gives Jerry Lee Lewis himself a run for his money in terms of unhinged vocal artistry. Essential captures all these and more on a generous CD that matches Gram Parsons, if not Hank Williams, for abandon and dark emotional intensity. --Rickey Wright

Release Date: 1995-07-18, Audio CD, Razor & Tie

Release Date: 2000-10-03, Audio CD, Curb Records