Henry Haynes and Kenneth Burns, better known as Homer and Jethro, were a comedy duo with musical roots in hillbilly and bluegrass.

Known as Junior and Dude (pronounced “dood-ee”) when they worked together on Tennessee radio in the 1930s, the pair was rechristened Homer (Haynes) and Jethro (Burns) when programme  director Lowell Blanchard forgot their nicknames during a 1936 broadcast.

Following a spell in the US Army, the pair reunited and developed an act which featured exaggerated hillbilly-styled versions of pop standards. After signing to RCA in 1949, the label’s country A&R man Steve Sholes suggested they recorded their parodies, and the duo immediately struck a chord with a re-working of Frank Loesser’s Baby, It’s Cold Outside. Taking a cue from other comic talents of the era, most of their humour was directed inward, towards themselves and over the next few years they remained a mainstay on radio and television. This 58-track set brings together selected A- and B-sides of their releases on RCA from this era, mostly comprising their trademark parody and comic performances.

It features all their country and pop chart entries on RCA from these years, including the Top 10 hits Baby It’s Cold Outside and How Much Is That Hound Dog In The Window, and the Top 20 hits Hernando’s Hideaway and The Battle Of Kookamunga.

They represented a highly individual and idiosyncratic strand of country music, cornering the market as just about the only practitioners of this particular art. This collection offers a showcase not only for their unusual material but also their finely-honed skills harmony vocalists.

CD1
1    Baby It's Cold Outside     with June Carter
2    Tennessee Border Number Two    
3    I've Got Tears In My Ears (From Lyin' On My Back In My Bed While I Cry Over You)    
4    She Made Toothpicks Out Of The Timber Of My Heart    
5    I Said My Nightshirt (And Put On My Pray'rs)     Homer and Jethro With June Carter
6    (Put Another Nickel In) Music! Music! Music!     Homer and Jethro With June Carter
7    You Tell Her I Stutter    
8    Does The Spearmint Lose Its Flavor    
9    Disc Jockey's Nightmare    
10    I'm Movin' On No. 2    
11    Sound Off #2 (The Duckworth Chant)    
12    Too Young    
13    Too Old To Cut The Mustard    
14    Cold Cold Heart #2    
15    Slow Poke #2    
16    When It's Toothpickin' Time In False Teeth Valley    
17    L'il Ole Kiss Of Fire    
18    Billboard Song    
19    Child Psychology    
20    You Belong To Me #2    
21    Jam-Bowl-Liar (Jambalaya)    
22    Settin' The Woods On Fire #2    
23    Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyeballs    
24    (How Much Is) That Hound Dog In The Window    
25    I'm Walking Behind You-All    
26    Your Clobbered Heart    
27    I Saw Mommy Smoochin' Santa Claus    
28    You-Ewe-U

CD2    
1    Oh My Pappy!    
2    Swappin' Partners    
3    Hernando's Hideaway    
4    Hey There    
5    Santa Baby    
6    Nutty Lady Of Shady Lane    
7    Mister Sandman    
8    Let Me Go Blubber    
9    Ballad Of Davy Crew-Cut    
10    Yaller Rose Of Texas, You All    
11    Love And Marriage    
12    Hart Brake Motel    
13    Houn' Dawg    
14    I'm My Own Grandpaw    
15    Mama From The Train or (Throw Mama Down The Stairs Her Hat Of Blue)    
16    At The Flop    
17    My Special Angel    
18    I Guess Things Happen That Way    
19    Lullaby Of Bird Dog    
20    Don't Sing Along (On Top Of Old Smokey)    
21    Middle Aged Teenager    
22    The Battle Of Kookamonga    
23    Waterloo    
24    El Paso (Numero Dos)    
25    Sink The Bismarck    
26    He'll Have To Go    
27    Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini    
28    Please Help Me, I'm Falling    
29    Are You Lonesome Tonight    
30    She Thinks I Don't Care