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Country & Western Hit Parade - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke & Hillbilly Music 1950 - BCD 16955 - 6 van 21




Germany's Bear Family is well known for its stellar box set reissues of country, rock, and rhythm & blues recordings, as well as for single titles by deserving if not necessarily remembered American artists. Their mastering, production, and packaging set the industry standard for excellence. The six-volume Dim Lights, Thick Smoke series was released on CD in December of 2008 and covered the years 1945-1950, a strange and wonderful time in country music history born from of the end of the War Department's restrictions on shellac and the end of the recording ban, all near the end of the second world war. These discs all contain either 27 or 28 tracks, and are lavishly annotated with historical essays and track by track annotation by the esteemed Colin Escott, and contain with photographs of performers and record sleeves where available. The final volume in the Dim Lights, Thick Smoke series covers the year 1950. As reflected in the track choices here, hillbilly boogie is in its full maturity, and the serious roots of hard honky tonk music are entering the jukebox and radio eras. There are some killer holdovers from the prime of Western swing, such as Moon Mullican and Bob Wills (whose classic "Faded Love" is included). But more the norm are performers like Hank Penny (with "Bloodshot Eyes"), Little Jimmy Dickens ("Hillbilly Fever"), Lefty Frizzell ("If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time") , Ernest Tubb ("Letters Have No Arms"), Jimmie Skinner("You Don't Know My Mind"), Carl Smith ("I Overlooked an Orchid While Looking for a Rose"), Hank Williams ("Long Gone Lonesome Blues"), and Webb Pierce. The latter's killer "Drifting Texas Sand" is one of the real high points here. Floyd Tillman's "I've Got the Craziest Feeling," and Red Foley's "Sugarfoot Rag" also lend to the overall wealth of this collection. But the true stellar moment is one of the earliest rock & roll tunes in Hardrock Gunter's "Birmingham Bounce,"(complete with a wah-wah sounding steel guitar!) that kicks the pants off Bill Haley's "Shake, Rattle & Roll," and predates Chuck Berry by a few years -- though to be fair, this sounds like a hillbilly version of the music played by Louis Jordan. In any case, this final volume is a fitting send-off to one of the most successfully curated of the bunch.



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                       Tracklisting
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   1. (00:02:49) Red Foley - Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy
   2. (00:03:14) Gene Autry - Blue Canadian Rockies
   3. (00:02:40) Ole Rasmussen - Sleepy Eyed John
   4. (00:03:00) Lefty Frizzell - If You've Got The Money I've Got The The Time
   5. (00:02:40) Hank Williams - Long Gone Lonesome Blues
   6. (00:03:03) Carl Smith - I Overlooked An Orchid (While Searching For A Rose)
   7. (00:02:59) Little Jimmy Dickens - Hilbilly Fever
   8. (00:02:54) Bob Wills - Faded Love
   9. (00:02:26) Red Foley - Sugarfoot Rag
  10. (00:03:03) Ted Daffan - I've Got Five Dollars And It's Saturday Night
  11. (00:02:39) Tennessee Ernie Ford & Kay Starr - I'll Never Be Free
  12. (00:02:21) Hank Penny - Bloodshot Eyes
  13. (00:02:49) Lefty Frizzell - I Love You A Thousand Ways
  14. (00:02:49) Hardrock Gunter - Birmingham Bounce
  15. (00:03:02) Stuart Hamblen - Remember Me (I'm The One Who Loves You)
  16. (00:02:58) Moon Mullican - I'll Sail My Ship Alone
  17. (00:02:51) Johnnie Lee Wills - Rag Mop
  18. (00:03:03) Billy Starr - Steppin' Out
  19. (00:02:51) Skeets McDonald - The Tattooed Lady
  20. (00:03:07) Ernest Tubb - Letters Have No Arms
  21. (00:02:30) Arkie Shibley - Hot Rod Race
  22. (00:02:58) Jimmie Skinner - You Don't Know My Mind
  23. (00:02:49) Bill Monroe - I'm Blue, I'm Lonesome
  24. (00:02:49) Webb Pierce - Drifting Texas Sand
  25. (00:02:59) Floyd Tillman - I've Got The Craziest Feeling
  26. (00:02:51) Hank Snow - I'm Moving On
  27. (00:02:38) Stanley Brothers - The Fields Have Turned Brown
  28. (00:02:42) Flatt & Scruggs - Foggy Moutain Breakdown



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