Wynn Stewart was one of the singers, guitarists and songwriters who originated and developed the Bakersfield sound of country music during the 1950s. Cited by many as having been a significant influence on contemporaries such as Buck Owens and Merle Haggard who were associated with Bakersfield movement, Stewart formed a high school band that played clubs around California before making his first records for the small Intro label.

While his debut singles, I’ve Waited A Lifetime and Strolling both failed to chart on the country music listings, the latter caught the attention of Skeets McDonald, one of Stewart's idols, who arranged an audition with Capitol Records. He soon recorded and released his first single for the label, Waltz Of The Angels, and landed him his first hit when it reached No.14 on the country chart.

This collection comprises just about all his releases on singles and albums between 1954 and 1962, including the A & B sides of his singles on the Intro, Capitol, Jackpot and Challenge labels. It includes charting hits such as Wishful Thinking, Big, Big Love and Another Day, Another Dollar.

He went on to enjoy further success in later years, and this collection is an entertaining introduction to his early career, and an insight into the roots of the Bakersfield phenomenon. The singer continued to tour into the 1980s and it was while on the road that he suddenly died of a heart attack on 17 July 1985.

TRACKS