Number of Discs1
Additional informationContains Columbia label recordings from the mid-1950's and a 12 page booklet. Personnel: Marty Robbins, Ray Edonton (vocals, guitar); Jimmy Rollins, Joe Knight, Chet Atkins, Thomas Grady Martin, Louis T. Innis, Hillous Butrum, Walter Garland, Jack H. Pruett, Bobby Sykes (guitar); Joe M. Vincent, James E. Farmer (steel guitar); Johnny Gimble, Donald Slayman, Cecil L. Brower, Dale Pottter, Grover Lavender (fiddle); Floyd Cramer (piano, organ); Harold Carmack, James Roye Hall, Owen Bradley (piano); Grundy Harbert, Bob L. Moore, Floyd T. Chance (bass); Fred G. Cantu, Farris Coursey, Jimmy Gossett, Louis Dunn (drums). Reissue producer: Richard Weize. Recorded at Castle Studio on May 23 and December 7, 1954, Bradley Studios on August 9 and November 3, 1955, Music City Recording on March 13 and September 4, 1956, Bradley Film & Recording on May 13, 1958, Nashville, Tennessee; Jim Beck Studio, Dallas, Texas on September 19, 1953 and May 29, 1954. Includes liner notes by Colin Escott. Personnel: Marty Robbins (vocals, guitar); Ray Edenton (vocals, guitar); Chet Atkins, Jimmy Rollins, Jack Pruett, Hillous Butrum, Grady Martin, Joe Knight , Hank Garland, Louis Innis, Bobby Sykes (guitar); Joe Vincent, James Farmer (steel guitar); Dale Potter, Donald Slayman, Johnny Gimble, Grover Lavender, Cecil Brower (fiddle); Floyd Cramer (piano, organ); Harold Carmack, Owen Bradley (piano); Jimmy Gossett, Fred Cantu, Louis Dunn, Farris Coursey (drums). Audio Mixer: Mark Wilder. Liner Note Author: Colin Escott. Recording information: Bradley Film & Recording Studio, Nashville, TN (09/19/1953-05/13/1958); Bradley Studios, Nashville, TN (09/19/1953-05/13/1958); Castle Studio, Nashville, TN (09/19/1953-05/13/1958); Jim Beck Studio, Dallas, TX (09/19/1953-05/13/1958); Music City Recording, Nashville, TN (09/19/1953-05/13/1958). Illustrator: R.A. Andreas. Photographer: R.A. Andreas. Unknown Contributor Roles: Hank Garland; Marty Robbins. In Bear Family's atypically exhaustive fashion, the label has gone to the vaults to track down all of Marty Robbins' pre-rock & roll sides from 1953 ("It's a Long Ride") and 1954 ("Call Me Up"), as well as four bluesed-out cuts from that year that remained shelved until after his death in 1982, to the 1955-1957 rockabilly material. There are 19 cuts here, and they are sequenced according to rock & roll aesthetic rather than chronologically. And this makes sense, as "It's a Long Long Ride" is as much a honky tonk and Western swing tune as it is a rockabilly number. What makes it rock & roll at all is the shivering, reckless energy in the vocal -- something uncommon in a Robbins recording of any stripe. "Pain and Misery" from the long-lost session is a rollin' and strollin' blues with bent guitar strings and a solid rock & roll shuffle. But when Robbins recut "That's All Right Mama" a mere six months after Elvis in 1955, the wheels were off. And that's what spills from this compilation, the skipping, driving country rockabilly from 1955 and 195