Country duo Johnnie & Jack were Johnnie Wright and Jack Anglin, singers, songwriters and guitarists who had been performing together for several years since the late 1930s, interrupted by war service, when they made their first records in 1945. They came together because Johnnie Wright was married to Kitty Wells, and Jack married Wright’s sister. They combined typical southern harmonies with songs on familiar themes of love gone wrong, sometimes imbued with a faith-based seriousness, which proved popular with the market, and they had more than a dozen hits through the 1950s recording for RCA and were long-time members of the Grand Ole Opry. This release comprises selected A & B sides from their early releases on the Apollo label, and then from their ten years with RCA before they moved to Decca in the early 1960s, their career being cut short by Jack Anglin’s death in an auto accident in 1963.

For most of their career, they were billed on their record labels as Johnnie and Jack, The Tennessee Mountain Boys. It features all their career hits, including the Country No. 1 “(Oh Baby Mine) I Get So Lonely” and the Top 10 entries “Poison Love”, “Cryin' Heart Blues”, “How Can I Believe In You”, “Cryin' Heart Blues”, “Three Ways Of Knowing”, “Goodnight Sweetheart, Goodnight”, “Honey I Need You”, “Beware Of It”, “Kiss Crazy Baby” and “Stop The World (And Let Me Off)”. It includes at least one side from most of their 60 or so releases during their career, and it provides a substantial showcase for their distinctive talent and style.

REVIEWS

Johnnie and Jack were not brothers but they sounded as if they were… within these two CDs we are treated to some wonderful harmonies which focus on the usual mix of novelties, ballads, gospel songs, uptempo beat types and covers of R&B numbers.This new Acrobat release is a fine snapshot of their career and goes a long way to include te best selections from their extensive repertoire. - Howard Cockburn (Now Dig This Issue 459)