Stay Tuned
Artist: Chet Atkins
Community Score: 10.00

After decades of recording for RCA Victor, Atkins switched labels; this 1985 effort is a summit meeting of sorts with young guitar hotshots like Larry Carlton, George Benson, Mark Knopfler, Steve Lukather, and Earl Klugh, plus session A-teamers like Boots Randolph, Larrie Londin, David Hungate, Mark O'Connor and others. Atkins' tone is, as... Read More

Anthology
Artist: Deborah Allen

Anthology offers an excellent overview of Deborah Allen's career, compiling all of the singer's country-pop hits from 1979 to 1993. Beginning with her earliest Top Ten entries -- three "duets" with Jim Reeves produced in the wake of his death -- the set goes on to encompass not only Allen's biggest solo smashes ("I've Been Wrong Before," "Baby I... Read More

Pure Country
Artist: David Houston

The budget collection Pure Country offers many of David Houston's biggest hits, including all seven of the singer's chart-toppers ("Almost Persuaded," "Have a Little Faith," "My Elusive Dreams" and "Baby, Baby [I Know You're a Lady]" among them); if not for referring to "Mountain of Love" as "Fountain of Love" on the front cover, it would serve... Read More

Pure Country - SONY
Artist: Lynn Anderson

Sony Special Products' Pure Country is an effective sampler of Lynn Anderson's country-pop work for Columbia Records in the '70s. In fact, it works in many ways as a hits compilation, since every one of the featured songs -- "Rose Garden," "How Can I Unlove You," "Sing About Love," "Cry," "Fool Me," "You're My Man," "Keep Me In Mind," "Top of... Read More

The Tennessee Plowboy & His Guitar
Artist: Eddy Arnold

The 120 tracks on these five CDs constitute a group of Eddy Arnold songs with which few people under the age of 50 could be familiar -- only about a half-dozen of them ever appeared on LP, much less CD. Recorded between 1944 and 1950, they represent his rise to country stardom (but not yet to pop stardom), and also the evolution of country music... Read More

Walkin' After Midnight: The Very Best of Patsy Cline
Artist: Patsy Cline

Don't take the title of Walkin' After Midnight: The Very Best of Patsy Cline too literally, because the disc is not a hits compilation. Instead, it's a collection of 24 songs she recorded for 4 Star Music before she had her breakthrough hit, "Walkin' After Midnight." That single is included here, along with covers of familiar country hits from... Read More

16 Biggest Hits
Artist: George Jones

16 Biggest Hits covers much of the same ground as the sublime Anniversary -- not quite as well, but it's still pretty great nonetheless, simply because the source material is very strong indeed. The first nine songs were all on Anniversary, and they're the best tracks here. Many of the remaining songs are culled from post-Anniversary albums, and... Read More

Are You Happy Baby: Collection (1976-1984)
Artist: Dottie West

There are all kinds of country music: hillbilly, bluegrass, honky-tonk, etc. Dottie West is the queen of Spandex country: a slickly produced Nashville brand of country-pop. For those who do not know her work, it is most telling that she shares vocal duties on six of the twenty tracks here with Kenny Rogers. This best-of collection is filled with... Read More

Greatest Hits, Vol. 2
Artist: Bill Anderson

Bill Anderson had a few more hits in him than his standard greatest-hits package on Decca would lead you to believe, and this second volume of country chart goodies from Varese Sarabande makes a nice bookend companion to its original volume. Highlights on this 15-track collection include "Walk Out Backwards," "For Loving You" (a #1 duet with Jan... Read More

Young Love: The Classic Hits
Artist: Sonny James

Young Love: The Classic Hits is a definitive 21-track collection that contains all of Sonny James' big hits from the late '50s and '60s -- "Young Love," "First Date, First Kiss, First Love," "Uh-Huh-Mm," "Born to Be With You," "Only the Lonely," "Running Bear," "You're the Only World I Know," "I'll Never Find Another You," "Empty Arms," "Bright... Read More

The Essential Porter Wagoner
Artist: Porter Wagoner

The Essential Porter Wagoner is the first thorough CD-era collection of his greatest hits, and while it misses a few items, all of the essential songs -- from "Company's Comin'" and "A Satisfied Mind" to "The Carroll County Accident" and "Uncle Pen" -- are here, making it a necessary addition to any country collection. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine,... Read More

The Best of David Houston - CURB
Artist: David Houston

David Houston's output on Epic is the subject of this best-of collection, which features the singer's hits "Almost Persuaded," "Mountain of Love," "With One Exception," "Have a Little Faith" and "A Woman Always Knows." ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide Read More

Feel Like Going Home: The Essential Charlie Rich
Artist: Charlie Rich

Though it bypasses his late-'70s and early-'80s records for United Artists and Elektra, the double-disc, 36-track set Feel Like Going Home: The Essential Charlie Rich covers Rich's best (and best-known) work for Sun/Phillips, Groove, Smash, and Epic, making it the first cross-licensed compilation ever assembled on the idiosyncratic vocalist and... Read More

The Glen Campbell Collection (1962-1989): Gentle on My Mind
Artist: Glen Campbell

Glen Campbell not only had an enormous number of hit singles, he was also a staple of pop culture, appearing in films and hosting a TV show during the late '60s and early '70s. Before that, he was a respected studio musician and performer in search of a hit in the early '60s, cutting great singles that nobody heard. All this makes his career... Read More

Anthology
Artist: Dave & Sugar Rowland

The budget-priced Anthology is a definitive overview of Dave & Sugar's country-pop smashes of the late 1970s, its 23 tracks assembling all of the group's smash hits for RCA. In addition to the chart-toppers "The Door Is Always Open" and "Golden Tears," the set also includes the Top Ten smashes "I'm Gonna Love You," "Don't Throw It All Away,"... Read More