Mac Wiseman was a an American bluegrass and country singer, as well as a bass player and guitarist, who hailed from Virginia.
His musical career began as upright bass player in the Cumberland Mountain Folks, the band of country singer Molly O'Day. When Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs left Bill Monroe's band, Wiseman became the guitarist for their new band, the Foggy Mountain Boys. Later he played with Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys. In 1951 he signed a solo deal with Dot Records and immediately shot to prominence with his big seller Sweet to Be Remembered, was released. According to Rolling Stone this song “catapulted him to solo stardom”. He sang with a clear, mellow tenor voice that helped him stand out from the usual run of bluegrass performers in his early career, with his appealing style earning him the nickname of “The Voice With A Heart”.
This 59-track collection includes selected A & B sides from his releases on Dot during this era, as he gradually moved from bluegrass towards more mainstream country and pop-flavoured material. It features his Top 10 country hits from these years with “The Ballad Of Davy Crockett” and “Jimmy Brown The Newsboy”. Overcoming polio, which he had from the age of six months, Wiseman went on to become a noted ambassador for traditional country music over the years and was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor in 1993. He died at the age of 93 in Nashville on 24 February 2019.
This collection provides an admirable showcase for his distinctive style of the genre.
TRACKS
Disc 1 |
|
|
Track |
Title |
Artist |
1 |
Are You Coming Back To Me |
Mac Wiseman |
2 |
Tis Sweet To Be Remembered |
Mac Wiseman |
3 |
I'm A Stranger |
Mac Wiseman |
4 |
Little White Church |
Mac Wiseman |
5 |
I Still Write Your Name In The Sand |
Mac Wiseman |
6 |
Four Walls Around Me |
Mac Wiseman |
7 |
Georgia Waltz |
Mac Wiseman |
8 |
You're The Girl Of My Dreams |
Mac Wiseman |
9 |
Going To See My Baby |
Mac Wiseman |
10 |
Fire In My Heart |
Mac Wiseman |
11 |
Waiting For The Boys |
Mac Wiseman |
12 |
Six More Miles |
Mac Wiseman |
13 |
It's Goodbye And So Long To You |
Mac Wiseman |
14 |
Shackles And Chains |
Mac Wiseman |
15 |
You're Sweeter Than The Honey |
Mac Wiseman |
16 |
Don't Let Your Sweet Love Die |
Mac Wiseman |
17 |
Crazy Blues |
Mac Wiseman |
18 |
You'd Better Wake Up |
Mac Wiseman |
19 |
I'd Rather Die Young |
Mac Wiseman |
20 |
Remembering |
Mac Wiseman |
21 |
The Waltz You Saved For Me |
Mac Wiseman |
22 |
Love Letters In The Sand |
Mac Wiseman |
23 |
Reveille In Heaven |
Mac Wiseman |
24 |
My Little Home In Tennessee |
Mac Wiseman |
25 |
I Saw Your Face In The Moon |
Mac Wiseman |
26 |
You Can't Judge A Book (By Its Cover) |
Mac Wiseman |
27 |
Keep On The Sunny Side |
Mac Wiseman |
28 |
I Love You Best Of All |
Mac Wiseman |
Disc 2 |
|
|
Track |
Title |
Artist |
1 |
Don't Blame It All On Me |
Mac Wiseman |
2 |
The Little Old Church In The Valley |
Mac Wiseman |
3 |
The Ballad Of Davy Crockett |
Mac Wiseman |
4 |
Danger! Heartbreak Ahead |
Mac Wiseman |
5 |
The Kentuckian Song |
Mac Wiseman |
6 |
Wabash Cannon Ball |
Mac Wiseman |
7 |
Fire Ball Mail |
Mac Wiseman |
8 |
When The Roses Bloom Again |
Mac Wiseman |
9 |
I Hear You Knockin' |
Mac Wiseman |
10 |
I'm Eating High On The Hog |
Mac Wiseman |
11 |
These Hands |
Mac Wiseman |
12 |
Be Good Baby |
Mac Wiseman |
13 |
I'm Drifting Back To Dreamland |
Mac Wiseman |
14 |
Smilin' Through |
Mac Wiseman |
15 |
One Mint Julep |
Mac Wiseman |
16 |
I'm Waiting For Ships That Never Come In |
Mac Wiseman |
17 |
Step It Up And Go |
Mac Wiseman |
18 |
Because We're Young |
Mac Wiseman |
19 |
Put Me In Your Pocket |
Mac Wiseman |
20 |
When The Work's All Done This Fall |
Mac Wiseman |
21 |
Promise Of Things To Come |
Mac Wiseman |
22 |
Thinkin' About You |
Mac Wiseman |
23 |
Did You Stop To Pray This Morning |
Mac Wiseman |
24 |
Jimmy Brown The Newsboy |
Mac Wiseman |
25 |
The Preacher And The Bear |
Mac Wiseman |
26 |
When It's Lamplighting Time In The Valley |
Mac Wiseman |
27 |
Driftwood On The River |
Mac Wiseman |
28 |
There's A Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere |
Mac Wiseman |
29 |
Now That You Have Me You Don’t Want Me |
Mac Wiseman |
30 |
Glad Rags |
Mac Wiseman |
31 |
Dark As A Dungeon |
Mac Wiseman |