A set that's way more than just a "best of" sort of anthology – as the package features three full albums by the group, plus other material too! The set begins with the classic debut, Gilded Palace Of Sin – 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". Burrito Deluxe is the second of only two albums recorded by Gram Parsons with the Flying Burrito Brothers – and a masterpiece that pushes the group's sound even farther than their debut! The set is filled with special moments – songs that show just why these guys were such a special bridge between late 60s country and rock music – and why all of the other groups they inspired just never came close to serving things up this well! Gram Parsons is fantastic on vocals, of course – but the whole group is great, especially Sneaky Pete on steel guitar. Titles include the fantastic romper "Man In The Fog", the very groovy "Lazy Days", the haunting "God's Own Singer", and the group's Jagger/Richards' approved take on "Wild Horses – plus other cuts that include "High Fashion Queen", "Image Of Me", "Older Guys", and "If You Gotta Go". Flying Burrito Brothers is The Burritos first LP, post-Parsons – and a pretty strong statement for the merits of the now unquestioned leader, Rick Roberts, and multi-instrumentalist new guy Bernie Leadon, who would later turn to the dark side and join the Eagles! Roberts penned or co-penned seven of the album's ten tunes, including "Colorado", "Hand To Mouth", "Just Can't Be", and "Four Days Of Rain". His contributions are for the most part nicely fragile, with just the right doses of sweetness and sadness. The group also covers Merle Haggard's "White Line Fever", Gene Clark's "Tried So Hard", and Dylan's "To Ramona". This is one of the band's rarer LPs, probably because of the absence of hipster hero Gram Parsons – truly a worthy piece of work! CD also features some other tracks recorded by Parsons with the group – including "Six Days On The Road", "Break My Mind", "Sing Me Back Home", and "Close Up The Honky Tonks" – and live tracks "Ain't That A Lot Of Love" and "Losing Game" – plus Gene Clark singing on "Here Tonight". (Rock, Folk/Country) CD

A set that's way more than just a "best of" sort of anthology – as the package features three full albums by the group, plus other material too! The set begins with the classic debut, Gilded Palace Of Sin – 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". Burrito Deluxe is the second of only two albums recorded by Gram Parsons with the Flying Burrito Brothers – and a masterpiece that pushes the group's sound even farther than their debut! The set is filled with special moments – songs that show just why these guys were such a special bridge between late 60s country and rock music – and why all of the other groups they inspired just never came close to serving things up this well! Gram Parsons is fantastic on vocals, of course – but the whole group is great, especially Sneaky Pete on steel guitar. Titles include the fantastic romper "Man In The Fog", the very groovy "Lazy Days", the haunting "God's Own Singer", and the group's Jagger/Richards' approved take on "Wild Horses – plus other cuts that include "High Fashion Queen", "Image Of Me", "Older Guys", and "If You Gotta Go". Flying Burrito Brothers is The Burritos first LP, post-Parsons – and a pretty strong statement for the merits of the now unquestioned leader, Rick Roberts, and multi-instrumentalist new guy Bernie Leadon, who would later turn to the dark side and join the Eagles! Roberts penned or co-penned seven of the album's ten tunes, including "Colorado", "Hand To Mouth", "Just Can't Be", and "Four Days Of Rain". His contributions are for the most part nicely fragile, with just the right doses of sweetness and sadness. The group also covers Merle Haggard's "White Line Fever", Gene Clark's "Tried So Hard", and Dylan's "To Ramona". This is one of the band's rarer LPs, probably because of the absence of hipster hero Gram Parsons – truly a worthy piece of work! CD also features some other tracks recorded by Parsons with the group – including "Six Days On The Road", "Break My Mind", "Sing Me Back Home", and "Close Up The Honky Tonks" – and live tracks "Ain't That A Lot Of Love" and "Losing Game" – plus Gene Clark singing on "Here Tonight". (Rock, Folk/Country) CD

An amazing, largely unheard collection of recordings by Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys! If you're not down with the lore, what's now known as The Tiffany Transcriptions is a series of recordings that the western swing pioneers cut for Tiffany Music, Inc. in the mid-to-late 40s, which were intended only for syndicated radio play at the time – but Tiffany went bust shortly thereafter, and a lot of went unheard for years and years. Wills and his Playboys are really at a peak level here – bridging rural dancehall music with swing jazz in landmark fashion and folksy charm. We've always been huge fans of Playboys singer Tommy Duncan, and he's in top form here, - and the set includes some excellent instrumentals, too. It features 50 tracks on 2CDs – 30 of which have never been reissued, or included on earlier Tiffany Transcriptions anthologies – and 20 of the 50 have never been released before now! Includes "Put Another Chair At The Table", "Travelin' Blues", "Bubbles In My Beer", "Detour", "Sliver Dew On The Blue Grass Tonight", "On The Alamo (Instrumental)", "Ragtime Annie (Instrumental)", "Goodnight Little Sweetheart", "I Wonder If You Feel The Way I Do", "She's Gone", "Still Water Runs The Deepest" and many more. Deluxe package, too! CD

One of the highest points in the solo career of Sandy Denny – a set that has her working with a hip array of British musical contemporaries, but also getting some sublime larger orchestrations from Harry Robinson and Bob Leaper too! The mix of folksy elements and higher ideals is wonderful – very much in that transformative style that Island Records was bringing to British folk at the start of the 70s – maybe most famously in the work of Nick Drake, but also with Sandy Denny at her best! Titles include "Like An Old Fashioned Waltz", "Whispering Grass", "Friends", "Dark The Night", "Solo", "No End", and "Until The Real Thing Comes Along". (Rock, Folk/Country) CD

A hell of a record from the great Merle Haggard – partly a tribute to the western swing pioneer Bob Wills, but also a fantastic demonstration of all the growth that Merle had undergone in such a short time! The songs are all Bob Wills classics, and they're interpreted here by a group that also features members of Bob's original Texas Playboys lineup – including Johnny Gimble on fiddle and Billie Tiny Moore on mandolin – but the real revelation is the way that Merle can not only give complete credit to the way that Bob Wills influenced his music, but also step into the role of a leader with the same sort of strength as Bob – yet in a completely different way. Hag's vocals are different than other Capitol Records of the time – able to capture all the jazzy inflections that Tommy Duncan had when singing with the Texas Playboys – and the style seems to just be another feather in Merle's mighty cap at the time. Titles include "Right Or Wrong", "Brown Skinned Gal", "Misery", "Roly Poly", "Old Fashioned Love", and "Take Me Back To Tulsa". LP, Vinyl record album

George Jones in one of his most classic periods – singles he cut with producer Pappy Daily for United Artists from the early-to-mid 60s – and some of the greatest barroom laments and rave up honky tonk treasures ever! Producer Pappy Daily frames the inherent sorrow, boozy slur and sly pug attitude of The Possum's voice with near-perfect waltz pattern backdrops, laid down by session legends like Pig Robbins, Grady Martin and Billy Strange – along with effective, ghostly choruses by The Jordanaires. Classics and relatively forgotten gems alike – including "The Race Is On", "She Thinks I Still Care", "Magic Valley", "Big Fool Of The Year", "My Tears Are Overdue", "Your Heart Turned Left (And I Was On The Right)", "Brown To Blue", "Wrong Number", "Least Of All", "World's Worst Lover", "A Good Old Fashioned Cry" and many more. 32 in all! CD

One of Willie Nelson's real classics for Columbia Records – a concept album that follows off some of his important mid 70s projects – much more unified overall than some of his other records from the time, and carefully put together down in Spicewood, Texas! Johnny Gimble plays fiddle and mandolin, Grady Martin is on guitar, and titles include "Changing Skies", "My Love For The Rose", "Somewhere In Texas", "Little Old Fashioned Karma", "Nobod Slides My Friend", and "The Convict & The Rose". LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic collection of work from Blind Alfred Reed – a West Virginia singer and fiddle player who's best known for his participation in the 1927 Bristol recordings that helped lay the foundation for generations of country music to come! Reed's style is very individual – that near-lost Appalachian strain that has surprisingly strong ties to modes from the British Isles, but which comes across with a definite American vibe – not just in Alfred's twangy representation of the lyrics, but also in the sprightly phrasing he brings to his instrument. And unlike some of his contemporaries, who often reworked older themes, Reed wrote all his own material – which reflects both the hardship of life in Appalachia at the time, and some of the higher ideals that could support flagging spirits in such a setting. Some of these songs have had greater fame in later remakes, but they still sound best here in Alfred's original recordings – which themselves have been beautifully restored for this lavish package – which also includes a hardcover book with notes on Reed's life, music, and long legacy. Titles include "The Old Fashioned Cottage", "Money Cravin Folks", "There'll Be No Distinction There", "The Prayer Of The Drunkard's Little Girl", "How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times & Live", and "Explosion In The Fairmount Mines". CD

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