A whole host of genre-breaking tracks from Texas impresario Augie Meyers – both an artist in the underground country rock scene, and the creative force behind the TRC label, which is showcased here in a variety of different recordings! If you know some of the important criss-crossing styles that were taking place in Austin during the mid 70s, you'll get some of the vibe here – but Augie hails from San Antonio, where the groove has maybe even more border-styled influences – served up here in a variety of tracks that really work together with a unified vibe. As always with Bear Family, the package and notes are great, and really help get at the special side of the music – presented here on 26 tracks that include "Country Groove" and "Henrietta" by Doug Sahm, "Domingo" by Denny Ezba, "Mezcal Road" by El Molino, "Meet Me In Seguin" and "Where I Belong" by Carol Meyer & The Western Head Band, "Boogie Woogie Country Girl" by Wild Man Ray Liberto, "Dynamite Woman" by Sir Douglas Quintet, "Faded Love" by Brother Al Stricklin, and the tunes "Deed To Texas", "High Texas Rider", "Sun Shines Down On Me In Texas", "Just Because", "Wedding Bells", and "Why Don't We Make Love Like We Used To" by Augie Meyers. CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

A really unique album by John Fahey – issued during a short stretch of initial mainstream approval, and a brief time of recording for Warner Brothers! Some of the album's quite different than the spare, solo Fahey you might know – and mixes his legendary guitar work with more elaborate elements than usual – additional instrumentation that includes bass, banjo, clarinet, piano, trombone, and fiddle – but all used at a level that really supports John's presence, not occludes it. Other tracks return to spare acoustic steel string guitar – creating an evocative balance that's mighty nice. Titles include "Funeral Song For Mississippi John Hurt", "Texas & Pacific Blues", "Dixie Pig Bar B Q Blues", "Lord Have Mercy Song", and "Deep River". LP, Vinyl record album

A pair of wonderful albums from the great John Fahey – back to back on a single CD! First up is Rivers & Religion – a really unique album by John Fahey – issued during a short stretch of initial mainstream approval, and a brief time of recording for Warner Brothers! Some of the album's quite different than the spare, solo Fahey you might know – and mixes his legendary guitar work with more elaborate elements than usual – additional instrumentation that includes bass, banjo, clarinet, piano, trombone, and fiddle – but all used at a level that really supports John's presence, not occludes it. Other tracks return to spare acoustic steel string guitar – creating an evocative balance that's mighty nice. Titles include "Funeral Song For Mississippi John Hurt", "Texas & Pacific Blues", "Dixie Pig Bar B Q Blues", "Lord Have Mercy Song", and "Deep River". After The Ball is a set with a disco ball on the cover, but a record that fits right in with the best early 20th century aesthetic in the work of John Fahey – particularly his way of reiimagining older musical traditions! There's a bit of added instrumentation on the record – two tracks that have some slight trad jazz flourishes – but overall, the album's mostly a solo effort with loads of wonderful guitar work from John – still as creative and as complicated as in his best recordings for Takoma! Other added instrumentation sometimes expands the sound with mandolin or banjo, but again in very sensitive ways – and titles include "Bucktown Stomp", "Om Shanthi Norris", "Beverly", and "Horses". CD

A long-forgotten effort from the Burritos – recorded two years after the death of Gram Parsons, and a great set overall! The set features vocals from Joel Scott Hill, Gib Gilbeau, and Gene Parsons – and titles include "Easy To Get On", "Wind And Rain", "Dim Lights, Thick Smoke","You Left The Water Running", "Hot Burrito #3", and more. (Rock, Folk/Country) LP, Vinyl record album

A true late 60s rock masterpiece – and like albums by Love and The Velvet Underground, a set that barely made a mainstream impact at the time – but which has gone on to be the stuff of influence and legend over the decades! The album's the first from Gram Parsons and the group – one of only two they would cut together – and the whole thing is a perfect blend of rough-edged rock and country influences rising up from the LA scene – all those glimmers of brilliance that Parsons had brought to the Byrds and other projects, maybe given their full flowering here in a mode that's unabashed about its country music influences – maybe even more so than some of Gram's later solo work. Sneeky Pete Kleinow's steel guitar really adds a lot – but so does the presence of Chris Hillman on guitar and mandolin, and Chris Ethridge on bass and piano. Titles include the brilliant "Sin City" – a track we'll love until we die – plus "Christine's Tune", "Do Right Woman", "Dark End Of The Street", "My Uncle", "Wheels", "Juanita", "Hot Burrito No 1", "Hot Burrito No 2", "Do You Know How It Feels", and "Hippy Boy". (Rock, Folk/Country) LP, Vinyl record album

Haunting traditional country-inspired songwriting a la Carter Family, Louvin Brothers, etc from Freakwater – one of their great early 90s albums on Thrill Jockey. The were young-ish and urban-ish at the time, but they are absolutely the real thing. Aching harmonies, dusty melodies and good damn songs. It can't be overstated how unique Freakwater was in an early-to-mid 90s indie rock atmosphere, either. Includes "Crazy Man", "Pale Horse", "My Old Drunk Friend", "Amelia Earhart", "Are You Ready", "Lullaby" and more. CD

(Comedy, Folk/Country) LP, Vinyl record album

Really wonderful work from the young Michael Hurley – one of his first records to get somewhat wide exposure, thanks to the help of Jesse Colin Young, who signed Hurley up to his Raccoon label at Warner Brothers! The vibe here is right up there with some of the best offbeat acoustic work cut during that stretch at the label – not the same in sound, but not far in spirit from unique records by Steve Young, John Hartford, and others – not to mention the cooler currents from Jesse's scene too! Hurley's vocal style changes nicely to fit the mood of each tune, really bringing the most out of the sorts of lyrics that were his special stock in trade – while the guitar playing is nicely unified, and although spare, really does a great job of holding the album together. Titles include "Blue Driver", "Water Train", "The Sun Is Slowly Sinking", "I'm Worried I'm Worried", "In Florida", "Lilly Pads Upon The Pond", and "Trinidad". CD

A nicely focused little collection on the great Ferlin Husky – one that brings together some of his more upbeat tunes from the early generation of rock and roll – although the music is still pretty darn country overall! Or rather, hillbilly – said in the most respectful way of the time – as the cuts often have some bumping basslines that are clearly borrowed a bit from rockabilly, and have that wonderfully full Capitol Records production style of the late 50s – which can illuminate even a casual moment in a tune, and make Ferlin's wit and personality really come through in the vocals! The CD's one of the best collections we've ever seen to focus on this side of Husky's great, and overlooked talent – and titles include "I Feel Better All Over", "Slow Down Brother", "Cross Eyed Gal From The Ozarks", "Detour", "Prize Possession", "Black Sheep", "Eli The Camel", "Excuse Me Stranger", "Wang Dang Doo", "I Will", and "Muki Ruki". CD

A classic run of records from Waylon Jennings – brought together in a single package! First up is Lonesome Onry & Mean – a pivotal album for Waylon Jennings – the record where he really found the new direction that would finally get him the fame he deserved – delivered in a way that's free from all the later cliches, and which also ties Waylon pretty strongly to the hipper currents of the underground – especially that point where singer/songwriter genius intersected with country! The production is his own, and vastly different than the late 60s records – even though we love those to death too – and that magical Jennings vocal approach does fantastic things to tunes by Steve Young, Mickey Newbury, Kris Kristofferson, and others! Titles include the fantastic "Lonesome Onry & Mean", plus "Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues", "Freedom To Stay", "Lay It Down", "You Can Have Her", "Pretend I Never Happened", "San Francisco Mabel Joy", "Sandy Sends Her Best", and a great take on "Me &Bobby McGee". Honky Tonk Heroes is genius material from Waylon Jennings – one of those career-defining records from the early 70s that completely put him on top, and heralded a whole new generation in country music! The set's maybe equally noteworthy as a showcase for the up-and-coming Billy Joe Shaver, who wrote much of the songs on the record – and it's also a great showcase for the important production talents of Tompall Glaser, who really gets the spirit of the music right! Titles include great versions of "Honky Tonk Heroes", "Old Five & Dimers Like Me", "Ride Me Down Easy", "Black Rose", "Willy The Wandering Gypsy & Me", "Omaha", and "Ain't No God In Mexico". This Time is one of those Waylon Jennings records from a time when he could do no wrong – fighting the stronger powers at RCA to really find his voice – recording at the studio of Tompall Glaser, with great production help from Willie Nelson – who was enjoying his own transformation at the time too! As with the previous two gems from this period, the choice of material and presentation is great – songs by Willie, JJ Cale, and Billy Joe Shavers – in a set of titles that include "Heaven Or Hell", "It's Not Supposed To Be That Way", "This Time", "Pick Up The Tempo", "If You Could Touch Her At All", "Walkin", "Slow Rollin Low", "Louisiana Woman", and "Slow Movin Outlaw". Ramblin Man is Waylon Jennings at peak mid 70s perfection! Ramblin' Man fits in stylistically with the gruff honky tonk hero mode he first fully realized a couple albums earlier, but he's still fiercely blazing trails here, pairing his gruff lead vocals with sweeter female harmonies on some tracks, changing the groove from laidback swagger to fast-paced honky tonk, working in some tender ballads with the gruffer numbers...Waylon at his best. Starts up with the eternal title track and equally classic "Rainy Day Woman" and hardly lets up in greatness from there, with "Cloudy Days", "The Hunger", "It'll Be Her", a great cover of the Allman Brothers' "Midnight Rider", "Memories Of You And Me", "Amanda" and more. Features bonus tracks too – "Laid Back Country Picker", "The Last One To Leave Seattle", "Big Big Love", "Got A Lot Going For Me", "The Last Letter", and "The One I Sing My Love Songs To". CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

2 of very best LPs ever cut by the Louvin Brothers – Tragic Sounds Of Life and Satan Is Real – back to back on CD complete with bonus tracks! Tragic Songs Of Life is quite possibly THE greatest record that the Louvin Brothers ever made – and a haunting batch of songs filled with death and disaster, sung in a crystalline harmony style by Ira and Charlie! Includes the oft-quoted "Kentucky", plus loads of other great ones, including "Take The News To Mother", "What Is Home Without Love", the bone-chilling "Knoxville Girl", and "Mary Of The Wild Moor". Great stuff, and completely essential! Satan Is Real is a fantastic record of country harmony spirituals, cut during the height of their years at Capitol! The record's a treasure all the way through – from great songs like "Satan is Real", "The Drunkard's Room", and "Dying From Home, And Lost" – to the groovy cover that has the Louvins smirking next to a flaming pile of garbage with a self designed statue of Satan. Incredible stuff! Other titles include the Gram Parsons epiphany "The Christian Life", "Satan's Jeweled Crown" and "I'm Ready To Go Home" and more. The CD also includes 4 bonus tracks of 45 sides: "Blue From Now On", "Red Head Hop", "Read What's In My Heart" and "My Heart Was Trampled On The Street". CD

A gritty little gem in the Gram Parsons/Burritos catalog – mostly covers of classic honky tonk tunes! Many of the tracks were recorded for what would have been an honest, earnest, hard country album that was never fully realized – eventually paired with a few other tracks of similar vintage and some outtakes with Emmylou, then released as a posthumous Gram Parsons/Flying Burrito Bros LP. Gram is hardly acknowledged by the country music establishment to this day, but this set shows that he loved and respected the songs of Merle Haggard (Gram's supposed cultural opposite at the time, so little did the world actually know), Buck Owens, The Louvin Brothers and the endless lost highway of roadhouse jukebox classics – played here with a boozy after hours swagger! Tracks include "Brand New Heartache", "Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down", "Sing Me Back Home", "Crazy Arms", "Close Up The Honky Tonks", "Honky Tonk Women", "Dim Lights" and more. (Rock, Folk/Country) LP, Vinyl record album

A tremendous document of work by Jake Thackray – one of the most unique talents on the British music scene of the 60s, but an artist who's sadly been un-remembered over the years! At first glance, Jake's definitely a folkie, but he's also one with a strong influence from French singer/songwriters like Jacques Brel or George Brassens – and takes key inspiration from them in the depth and darkness of his work. Like both Brel and Brassens, Thackray's got a style that's almost out of time – one that's ageless at some points, but with a very contemporary way of viewing the world – personal, pointed, and penned with an incredible sense of wit. In an era when most folkies were attacking the political or pushing into the fantastic, Jake spent careful time looking at human foibles and the complexities of interpersonal relationships – always from a distance, but close enough to note the odd humor in even the most banal situations. This wonderful set brings together 4 of Thackray's albums for EMI – Bantam Cock, Last Will & Testament, Jake's Progress, and On Again On Again – all of which feature Jake's slightly jazz-inflected vocals alongside acoustic guitar and very spare, but well-chosen additional instrumentation. Package also features a full disc of unreleased material – including different versions of other tunes on the albums. 97 tracks in all, and a wonderful musical discovery throughout! Titles include "The Cactus", "Country Bus", "Brother Gorilla", "The Girl In The Window", "Ulysses", "Scallywag", "Salvation Army Girl", "On The Shelf", "Go Little Swale", "Isabel Makes Love On National Monuments", "Joseph", "Famous People", "The Gravedigger", and "Leopold Alcocks". (Rock, Folk/Country) CD

Music from Williamson Brothers And Curry, Memphis Jug Band, Mississippi John Hurt, The Carter Family, Lydia Mendoza, Carolina Tar Heels, Hattie Hart & The Memphis Jug Band, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Charley Patton, Joseph Falcon, Frank Hutchison, Jimmie Rodgers, and more. CD

A great collection of seminal folk and country classics by Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, Johnson Brothers, Uncle Eck Dunford, El Watson, Tennessee Mountaineers, Alfred Karnes, and many more! LP, Vinyl record album

With selections by Hank Thompson, Ferlin Husky, Tex Ritter, Jean Shepard, Freddie Hart, Faron Young, Louvin Brothers, Wanda Jackson, Tommy Collins, Wynn Stewart, and Skeets McDonald. LP, Vinyl record album

A huge tribute to the long legend of country music on Capitol Records – with an especially strong focus on Bakersfield work! The set features 60 tracks in all – with work from Johnny Gimble, Merle Haggard, Louvin Brothers, Skeets McDonald, Tommy Collins, Jimmie Davis, Leon Payne, Tex Williams, Hank Thompson, Faron Young, Wanda Jackson, Joe Maphis, Dick Curless, Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant, Ferlin Husky, and others – but oddly no Buck Owens! LP, Vinyl record album

You might not know Les Cousins, but back in the city it was a very important club on the London scene – a crossroads of blues, folk, and other styles – with an influence that was every bit important in England as the Greenwich Village clubs were in the US! This massive 3CD set does a great job of documenting the sounds that passed through its stage – not via live recordings, but over a well-chosen array of cuts that demonstrate just how hip British work of the time could be – folk-plus material, of the sort you'd hear on the best albums on Island Records or Transatlantic, all very much of the generation of Nick Drake and Fairport Convention! The 3CD set does a really great job of showing the wide range of acts from this moment – including many we haven't had on other reissues in recent years – in a great box that features 72 tracks, and very detailed notes on the material. Includes work from The Levee Brothers, Roy Harper, Dr Strangely Strange, Strawbs, Owen Hand, Dave Evans, Anne Briggs, Tom Yates, Duffy Power, Ron Geesin, Jackson C Frank, Martin Carthy, Dando Shaft, Shelagh McDonald, Al Jones, Sweeney's Men, Sam Mitchell, Tir Na Nog, Beverly, Michael Chapman, and many others. (Rock, Folk/Country) CD