Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Great Speckled Bird - Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans
2. My Mountain Home Sweet Home - Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans
3. Wabash Cannonball - Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans
4. Freight Train Blues - Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans
5. You've Gotta See Mama Every Night - Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans
6. Gonna Have a Big Time Tonight - Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans
7. Yes Sir That's My Baby - Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans
8. You're the Only Star in My Blue Heaven - Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans
9. Charming Betsy - Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans
10. New Greenback Dollar - Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans
11. Steamboat Whistle Blues - Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans
12. Doin' It the Old Fashioned Way - Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans
13. Old Three Room Shack - Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans
14. Steel Guitar Blues - Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans
15. Sad Memories - Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans
16. Red Lips - Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans
17. What Would You Do With Gabriel's Trumpet
18. Shout Oh Lulu
19. Blue Ridge Sweetheart
20. One Old Shirt
21. Bonnie Blue Eyes
22. Automobile of Life
23. Smoky Mountain Rag [Instrumental]
24. That Beautiful Picture
25. Honky Tonk Mamas

Disc 2:

1. Answer to Sparkling Eyes
2. Fly Birdie Fly
3. Ida Red
4. Beautiful Brown Eyes
5. Mother's Prayers Guide Me
6. Living On the Mountain Baby Mine
7. Vagabond's Prayer
8. Old Age Pension Cheque
9. Eyes Watching You
10. I'm Building a Home (In the Sky)
11. Walkin' in My Sleep
12. Drifting Too Far from Shore
13. Come Back Little Pal
14. Will the Circle Be Unbroken
15. When I Lay My Burden Down
16. Streamlined Cannonball
17. Weary River
18. Broken Heart
19. Precious Jewel
20. Mule Skinner Blues
21. Just to Ease My Worried Mind
22. Be Honest With Me
23. Worried Mind
24. It Won't Be Long (Til I'm Leaving)
25. I Know You're Saying Goodbye
26. Brother Take Warning

Disc 3:

1. Stuck Up Blues
2. Lying Woman Blues
3. You Are My Love
4. Are You Thinking of Me Darling
5. I Called and Nobody Answered
6. Wreck on the Highway
7. Fireball Mail
8. I'll Reap My Harvest in Heaven
9. Night Train to Memphis
10. Prodigal Son
11. Low and Lonely
12. Write Me Sweetheart
13. Not a Word from Home
14. I'll Forgive But I Can't Forget
15. Blues in My Mind
16. I Heard a Silver Trumpet
17. Easy Rockin' Chair
18. Wait for the Light to Shine
19. I Think I'll Go Home and Cry
20. We Live in Two Different Worlds
21. Pins and Needles (In My Heart)
22. Golden Treasure
23. Let Me Be the First to Say I'm Sorry
24. Waiting for the Call to Glory
25. Gone Gone Gone (But Not Forgotten)

Disc 4:

1. I Talk to Myself About You
2. Freight Train Blues
3. Wabash Cannonball
4. Our Own Jole Blon
5. Waltz of the Wind
6. Sinner's Death (I'm Dying (
7. Tennessee Central (#9)
8. There's a Big Rock in the Road
9. Po' Folks All the Time
10. When They Take the Last Look at You
11. Heartaches and Flowers
12. You'll Reap These Tears
13. It's Just About Time
14. I'll Always Care
15. It's So Hard to Smile
16. Midnight Train
17. Tennessee Waltz
18. Dance Around Molly [Instrumental]
19. Black Mountain Rag [Instrumental]
20. Smoky Mountain Rag [Instrumental]
21. Lonesome Indian [Instrumental]
22. Polk County Breakdown [Instrumental]
23. Jesus Died for Me
24. Day They Laid Mary Away
25. It's All Right Now

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #68467 in Music
• Released on: 2004-05-03
• Number of discs: 4
• Formats: Box set, Import
• Dimensions: .47 pounds

Customer Reviews

King of the Hillbillies!
Considering his importance in the history of Country Music it is rather surprising that this is the first significant box set dedicated to Roy Acuff. These are original recordings (1930s-1950) of his hits including "Wabash Cannonball," "Precious Jewel," and "Great Speckled Bird." Also included are some hot string band recordings, which might surprise fans who only remember the older Acuff singing ballads. Acuff's band included some excellent players instrumental in moving Country music from an old time sound (like Charlie Poole) to the style now considered "classic." Other listeners will be surprised by the inclusion of one cut from the "Bang Boys," Acuff's nom de disc for recording risque titles (included here is "Doin It the Old Fashioned Way"). A nice box, good sound, and a needed reissue. Hopefully Bear Family is already preparing a systematic reissue of Acuff, if anyone deserves it, he does.

Original recordings 1936 to 1950
For a long time, Roy Acuff was poorly represented on CD but this box released in 2004 finally provided us with what his fans wanted - the complete recordings from his early years. Everything here is presented in nearly chronological order beginning with Great speckled bird from 1937 and ending with It's all right now in 1950. Two 1936 tracks appear as tracks 3 and 4 on CD 1 to disturb the chronological sequence slightly. Within this box, you can find all of Roy's famous tracks from the years when he was at the peak of his popularity. The box includes an extensive booklet that tells you, among other things, how Bashful Brother Oswold got his name; his real name is Beecher Kirby, though he prefers to be known as Pete.

Of course, Roy maintained a successful career for the rest of his life and even wrote a few great songs in later years, most notably Blue eyes crying in the rain, the song with which Willie Nelson revitalized his career in the late seventies. Following the success of that song, interest in Roy's own music increased for a while and he had some success with his own music on the country charts. Aside from Blue eyes crying in the rain and the hits that followed, every Roy Acuff song that really matters can be found here, and then some.

Roy recorded several train songs during this period. It is particularly interesting to note that the original 1936 versions of two of them (Wabash cannonball, Freight train blues) featured band member Sam Hatcher as the singer. Roy re-recorded them with his own vocals in 1947. You'll find both versions in this box. Other train songs to be found here are Streamlined cannonball, Fireball mail, Night train to Memphis, Tennessee central #9 and Midnight train. Roy also sang about other forms of transport as you can hear on Steamboat whistle blues, Autombile of life and Wreck on the highway.

Roy sang plenty of songs about love and heartache including Blue ridge sweetheart, Broken heart, Be honest with me, I know you're saying goodbye, Lying woman blues and You are my love, but he seemed to have a fascination with eyes, writing and singing Bonnie blue eyes, Answer to sparkling eyes, Beautiful brown eyes and Eyes watching you. Roy alkso recorded several gospel songs. Apart from Great speckled bird, they include Will the circle be unbroken, Drifting too far from the shore, When I lay my burden down, Waiting for the call to glory and Jesus died for me. Roy was not afraid to comment on social issues when he felt strongly, as in Old age pension cheque.

Among the classic songs that I haven't mentioned so far are Precious jewel, Prodigal son, Pins and needles, Our own Jole Blon and I'll forgive but I can't forget. If you like country music at its most traditional, you'll love Roy Acuff - and this is by far the best compilation out there.

Music with TWANG!
Four CDs each with 25 tracks covering 1936 to 1950 for under $25 by one of the greatest musicians we had. Unless you do not like Country Music, it is hard to find fault with this set. These are the original recordings when CW had a twang, years before the Nashville Sound repackaging occurred. This will produce a somewhat different sound than some of the American CDs contain but one that is closer to what this music sounded like while Roy climbed to the top of his profession.

I like the original CW sound from this era and understand how it sounds transferred for current audio systems. The audio quality is good throughout, keeping the true sound of the old records without the problems associated with that media. The booklet is will done with a complete Discography and many photographs.

The tracks on the four CDs are in sequence allowing us to follow the development and changes in his music. All the standards are here in their original form Great Speckle Bird. Wreck on the Highway, Waiting for the Call to Glory and both versions of Wabash Cannonball. Come along on the Night to Memphis, this CD will not give you the Freight Train Blues!