Real McCall
Artist: Darrell McCall

Darrell McCall was a hardcore traditional country singer, keeping the flame of pure, gritty honky tonk alive during the country-pop crazes of the '60s and '70s. Though he never had many hits -- only his debut single, "A Stranger Was Here," broke the Top 20 -- he gained a dedicated cult following among fans of traditional country, which... Read More

Old Dogs
Artist: The Old Dogs

Old Dogs, indeed: At the time of this album's release, the combined ages of its principals -- Waylon Jennings, Mel Tillis, Bobby Bare, and Jerry Reed -- exceeded 250 years, and to these sixtysomethings really should have been added the disc's true auteur, Shel Silverstein, who wrote all the songs.

Beginning with the title track,... Read More

Pure Country
Artist: Joe Stampley

Sony Special Products' Pure Country is an effective sampler of Joe Stampley's country-pop work for Epic Records in the '70s. In fact, in many ways it works as a hits compilation, since five of the featured songs -- "Roll on Big Mama," "Red Wine and Blue Memories," "Do You Ever Fool Around," "If You've Got Ten Minutes (Let's Fall in Love)," "I'm... Read More

The Complete Hank Williams
Artist: Hank Williams
Community Score: 6.67

Between 1986 and 1987, Mercury launched its first effort to chronicle Hank Williams' complete recorded works, releasing a series of eight double albums/single CDs which were later collected as a box set. Both the individual compilations and the box set were pulled from the market in the '90s, clearing the way for The Complete Hank Williams, a... Read More

The RCA Years
Artist: Elton Britt

Country singer Elton Britt may have been somewhat of a conundrum (an intensely private man, he made a try for the most public position in the world when he ran for President of the United States in 1960), but he sure could yodel, and his smooth, unassuming professionalism means his work still holds up in a contemporary context. This set makes a... Read More

Talk to My Heart
Artist: Johnny Bush

Johnny Bush's second album after a 1994 comeback from an obscure neurological disorder that affected his voice finds the honky-tonk singer challenging his voice with a set of uptempo, tenor-led songs. In the opener, a Ray Price nugget named "Please Talk to My Heart," Bush places his voice front-and-center, proving it's just as expressive as it... Read More

Radio Broadcasts (1952)
Artist: Hank Thompson

From one standpoint, a disc of single-take radio performances from Hank Thompson is superfluous, because Thompson recorded three official live albums for Capitol Records. On the other hand, this stuff -- cut for the U.S. government's Office of Price Stabilization in 1952 -- is a good deal earlier than any of Thompson's official live LPs, and so... Read More

The Essential Hank Snow
Artist: Hank Snow
Community Score: 9.00

In 1997, The Essential Hank Snow replaced I'm Movin' On & Other Country Hits as the one essential, single-disc retrospective of Snow's classic hits currently on the market. While it isn't quite as listenable as its direct predecessor, The Essential still captures all of Snow's styles, from Hawaiian music and country boogie to his famous... Read More

She Thinks I Still Care: The George Jones Collection (The United Artists Years)
Artist: George Jones

She Thinks I Still Care: The George Jones Collection (The United Artists Years) is a comprehensive double-disc retrospective of Jones' four years with UA, featuring 40 songs, including 21 country Top 40 hits. His time with United Artists was essentially a transitional period, as he moved from the hardcore honky tonker of his Starday-Mercury... Read More

Look What Thoughts Will Do
Artist: Lefty Frizzell

Look What Thoughts Will Do is a double-disc set covering all of Lefty's biggest hits ("If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time," "I Love You a Thousand Ways," "I Want to Be With You Always," "Always Late (With Your Kisses)," "Give Me More, More More (Of Your Kisses)," "Run 'Em Off," "The Long Black Veil," "Saginaw, Michigan"), plus several... Read More

The Cold Hard Truth
Artist: George Jones
Community Score: 9.00

Touted as George Jones' return to hardcore country, Cold Hard Truth -- the Possum's first record for the revitalized Asylum Records -- certainly does achieve that goal. Under the guidance of producer Keith Stegall, Jones returns to the sound of his classic Mercury and UA recordings, meaning that there's nothing but honky tonk ballads and ravers... Read More