Hank Thompson was one of the most important personalities in country music across several decades, keeping alive the spirit of western swing and the hillbilly roots of country music, performing with his highly-rated band The Brazos Valley Boys, while subsuming it into the honky-tonk style which characterised much of the successful and popular country music of this era. He was also a versatile vocal stylist, his hits including romantic ballads as well as his trademark swinging hardcore honky-tonk. He was a prolific hit-maker, and during the fifteen years or so covered by this collection had no less than 46 country hits, all of which are included in this great-value 57-track 2-CD collection.

Those hits included the country No. 1s Wild Side Of Life, Rub-A-Dub and Wake Up, Irene, plus twenty other Top 10 hits in the country charts. As well as featuring his hits for his primary record label, Capitol, this anthology also includes recordings from his early career on the small Blue Bonnet and Globe labels in 1946. Its an entertaining showcase for one of country musics most distinctive stylists of the post-war decades, and a comprehensive overview of the music which made him a fixture in the country charts through the 1950s.

REVIEWS

Carefully enunicated lyrics were at times witty and cleverly phrased.  - Trevor Hodgett (Maverick)