Track Listing

1. Walkin' the Floor Over You
2. Mean Mama Blues
3. Our Baby's Book
4. You Nearly Lose Your Mind
5. Soldier's Last Letter
6. Tomorrow Never Comes
7. It's Been So Long, Darling
8. Rainbow at Midnight
9. Filipino Baby
10. Drivin' Nails in My Coffin
11. Have You Ever Been Lonely (Have You Ever Been Blue)
12. Let's Say Goodbye Like We Said Hello
13. Slipping Around
14. Blue Christmas
15. Letters Have No Arms
16. I Love You Because
17. Goodnight, Irene - Red Foley, Ernest Tubb
18. You Don't Have to Be a Baby to Cry
19. Two Glasses, Joe
20. Yellow Rose of Texas
21. Half a Mind
22. Thanks a Lot
23. Mr. & Mrs. Used to Be - Loretta Lynn, Ernest Tubb
24. Waltz Across Texas
25. Sweet Thang - Loretta Lynn, Ernest Tubb

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21281 in Music
• Brand: MCA
• Released on: 2006-06-06
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Customer Reviews

Strongest Single Disc Tubb Set
With his relaxed, drawling baritone and notes as wide open as Texas, Ernest Tubb embodied Lone Star honky-tonk music of the 1940s. In essence, he was the link between country bluesman Jimmie Rodgers (whose widow made Tubb her protégé) and Lefty Frizzell.

The Definitive Collection begins with his trademark 1941 "Walkin' The Floor Over You," whose electric guitar was new for country recordings. Bar owners with juke boxes, it seems, were telling Tubb that acoustic guitars couldn't be heard above their crowds' noise. From 1941-42, his compositions "Mean Mama Blues" and "You Nearly Lose Your Mind" credibly mimic Rodgers' style, but as time went on, he was dubbed The Texas Troubadour.

Of the 25 tracks here, 16 are from the 1940s and five from the `50s. Among the four `60s songs, "Waltz Across Texas" became his second signature song though it climbed no higher than 34 on 1965's charts. His only pop top-tenner, a 1950 duet with Red Foley on Leadbelly's "Goodnight Irene," competed with their Decca label mates The Weavers' dreamy pop rendition. A 1949 "Blue Christmas" has lines that Elvis Presley's later version dropped. Among the GI songs ("Soldier's Last Letter," "It's Been So Long, Darling," "Rainbow At Midnight"), 1946's "Filipino Baby" lacks the short repetitions that Cowboy Copas's rival single and Pearl Harbour's 1980 cover employed.

Those looking for more Tubb should seek out Collector's Choice 40 track The Definitive Ernest Tubb Hits Collection, which is out of print but available through Amazon dealers at a fairly reasonable price.

MOST OF THESE ARE NOT THE ORIGINAL HITS!
From the opening notes of "Walking the Floor Over You," something just didn't sound right. Gone was the rich, thick baritone and ET's plaintive wailing over his true love. Instead, we get the vocals of a baritone that displays the wear and tear that a lifetime of singing and smoking (and emphysema) can do to a voice. Sure enough, when checking out the "American Masters" series, it's got the exact version on it, down to ET's comments to his guitar player before a brief solo. The difference is that the "American Masters" has the honesty to list it as "1963 version" -- not the '40s classic I love so well. And so it goes with most of the tracks on this CD -- most follow the same pattern. We don't hear ET progress through time. Instead, all the songs are sung by rote by a man clearly in his late 50s or early 60s, and the band backing him is definitely not the Texas Troubadors!

A couple of classics are here -- the duets, for instance. But I'd estimate 90 percent of this CD was recorded in '63, or '73, or whenever, but you certainly don't hear ET's voice age over the years like you should.

Clearly, ET met in a studio with session musicians, did a few run-throughs, and then cut this CD in a day or so. All the songs have the same sonic "background," and Tubb's voice stays the same from beginning to end.

I was born and raised in rural Texas and the music of Ernest Tubb (along with a few others) comprise the "soundtrack of my youth." I give this CD 1 star out of love for ET, and one star because the songs are great, even if they aren't the original recordings. If not for his memory and the great music he left behind, this would rate zero stars. Clearly some record executives had him sing his hits, paid him some decent money, and now are making MORE money by passing this off as a "greatest hits" compilation. IT IS NOT. There's some great ET on CD. Shop around. AVOID THIS! What a disappointment.

Ernest Tubb Difinitive Collection
I would recommend this to anyone that enjoys good real old fashioned country. It isn't for the people that listen to the gabage that is out there in the "so called" country world today.