Search - Tennessee Ernie Ford :: Vintage Collections Series

As Good As You're Apt To Find When It Comes To His Hit Singl

C. Thomas | 01/26/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For this release I can't be my hyper-critical self when it comes to the lack of his hit singles, simply because it doesn't advertise itself as such. Still, while there is a preponderance of Tennessee Ernie compilations dealing with a genre - religious hymns - for which he is also fondly remembered, he did put 37 hits onto the Billboard Country and/or Pop charts from 1949 to 1959, all for Capitol Records.



But just try and find a definitive "Greatest Hits Of" or "Best Of" for this genial balladeer, inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1990, a year before his death at age 72 on October 17, 1991. And that's a crime really.



Here they manage to give us 10 of those hits plus two uncharted B-sides, although one of the latter, I Got The Milk 'Em In The Morning Blues, backed his first hit ever, Tennessee Border, in April 1949 (# 8 on what then passed for the Country charts) on Capitol 15400, and that breakthrough hit is not here.



The hits they do provide are: Country Junction - # 14 Country in May 1949 on Capitol 15430; Smokey Mountain Boogie - # 8 Country in September 1949 on Capitol 40212; Mule Train - # 1 Country for 4 weeks and # 9 Pop in late 1949 on Capitol 40258, and its B-side, Anticipation Blues, which also charted at # 3 Country; The Cry Of The Wild Goose - # 2 Country and # 15 Pop in early 1950 on Capitol F1124; I'll Never Be Free - a duet with Kay Starr which hit # 2 Country and # 3 Pop in the fall of 1950 on Capitol F1124; The Shot-Gun Boogie - # 1 Country for 14 solid weeks and # 14 Pop in late 1950/early 1951 on Capitol F1295 (it's uncharted flipside, I Ain't Gonna Let It Happen No More, is also here); Hey Mr. Cotton Picker - # 8 Country in June 1953 on Capitol 2443; Sixteen Tons - # 1 Country for 10 weeks and # 1 Pop for 8 weeks in late 1955/early 1956 on Capitol 3262; First Born - # 46 Pop in late 1956 on Capitol 3553; and Hicktown - # 9 Country in July 1965 on Capitol 5425.



Major hits overlooked in favour of some obscure cuts include the B-side to I'll Never Be Free - the # 5 Country/# 22 Pop Ain't Nobody's Business But My Own, also a duet with Kay Starr; Mr. And Mrs. Mississippi - # 2 Country/# 18 Pop in July 1951; The Ballad Of Davy Crockett - # 4 Country/# 5 Pop in spring 1955; and That's All - # 12 Country/# 17 Pop in spring 1956.



Some of these may be found on multi-srtist compilations, but the rest of his hits remain among the hardest to find for collectors like myself - something that just shouldn't be when it comes to a Hall of Famer like Ernie.



There are minimal liner notes, and the sound quality is good, as is usually the case with an EMI release."

Excellent Music

PBV | USA | 10/01/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you like classic country then TEF is a must have. A few songs are a bit corney but who cares. Highly recomended."