King of the Hillbillies
Roy Acuff
Jsp, 2008
4 CD
Catalogue #: JSP7799
EAN: 0788065779924
UPC: 788065779924
You save: 20%
Personnel: Roy Acuff (vocals, fiddle); Jess Easterday (vocals, guitar, mandolin); Pete "Oswald" Kirty (vocals, steel guitar, banjo); Clell Summey (vocals, steel guitar); Sam "Dynamite" Hatcher (vocals, harmonica); Red Jones (vocals, bass instrument); Lonnie Wilson (guitar); Jimmy Riddle (accordion); Oral Rhodes, Velma Williams (bass instrument); Roy Acuff & His Smoky Mountain Boys, Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans.
Subtitled "The First 100 Commercial Sides," this four-disc box set delivers precisely that: the first hundred songs Roy Acuff cut, starting with 1936's "Singing My Way to Glory." Part of what's remarkable about this collection is how quickly Acuff found his musical voice: the third song here is "Great Speckle Bird," which, along with "Wabash Cannonball," became Acuff's signature tune. As usual with JSP Records' budget-line box sets, there are four discs here, each with 25 tunes. The songs are carefully remastered and sound excellent, and the liner notes are brief but packed with information. Although priced low enough to appeal even to casual fans, KING OF THE HILLBILLIES is a well-structured and musically solid anthology that will satisfy even diehard Roy Acuff fans.
Tracklist
Roy Acuff
One of the primary influences of virtually every first-generation honky-tonk singer, Roy Acuff is a seminal figure in country music. Acuff provided a bridge between the gospel- and folk-influenced sounds of the Depression era and the post-war honky-tonk sound. He was one country's biggest stars in the '40s, so well-loved that he was persuaded to run for governor of Tennessee in 1948. He became a fixture of the Grand Ole Opry until nearly his death in 1992. In addition to being one of country music's most popular performers, Acuff was also one half of the country music business's most well-known publishing teams, Acuff-Rose.
