Search - Dorsey Burnette :: Best of

Still a Mystery

Eclectic Revisited | Arizona | 11/10/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you have a large collection of music, you may virtually never get around to playing this one. Dorsey Burnette, a rockabilly pioneer with his more prolific younger brother, Johnny, was never the commercial success that he deserved to be. What memories do most people have? Neither brother lived a full life, Dorsey died just shy of age 47 and Johnny near his 30th birthday. I still own a clean 45 vinyl of "Tall Oak Tree". It is a song like no other I can recall. "Hey,Little One" had that same heartfelt quality but only found real success through Glen Campbell's recording it. Frankly, that was about it. (He did appear on Glen's late 1960's "Goodtime Hour"). When he turned to country music, he found modest success, but the fact is before the early 80s, if you had a #1 country hit in the USA, it would likely be #40 on the pop survey (with some exceptions) where most people spent their money. And Dorsey Burnette never had close to a #1 country hit; who can say why? His arcane country tunes are probably lost to history, but this compilation is worth the price for those two very special songs mentioned above. Don't forget to play it sometime."