Country Music Hall Of Fame

Ernest Tubb is a true country music singer. His songs have feeling and tell a story. That is what country music is supposed to be. The new country might be okay for some, but give me "Walkin The Floor Over You" or "Waltz Across Texas" any day. The simplicity of the music, the feeling in the vocals, the meaning to the lyrics, please let's put some Country in our Country. Take Us Back. To Those Honky Tonk Days!

As they did with the Kitty Wells volume in this Hall Of Fame series, the producers brought it upon themselves to include tracks which are hardly representative of this particular Hall of Famer, something they didn't need to do with no less than 90 Decca/MCA hit singles to choose from. One of those was Love Lifted Me which was among his previously unreleased material. Another is Our Baby's Book from 1941, three years before the advent of the Billboard Country charts.

Two others, tracks 1 and 3, were also from that era, but you cannot have a definitive Ernest Tubb compilation without his signature tune, Walking The Floor Over You [recorded on April 26, 1941 and which made the Pop charts at # 23 that August], and You Nearly Lose Your Mind [recorded July 17, 1942]. All the remainder were Billboard hits, however, including two of his six # 1's - Soldier's Last Letter for 4 weeks in 1944 and also a Pop # 16, and It's Been So Long Darling, 4 weeks in late 1945.

It's also worth noting that, in addition to the above-mentioned two, he had nine more Pop crossovers. His first Billboard Country hit, in fact, made both charts as Try Me One More Time reached # 4 Country and # 15 Pop in the spring of 1944. Unfortunately, that is not included here. Another was the flip of Soldier's Last Letter which reached # 29 Pop. Only the A-side is included here.

Forever Is Ending Today [track 8] topped out at # 5 Country and # 30 Pop in late summer 1948, while the comical duet with The Andrews Sisters from early 1949, I'm Bitin' My Fingernails And Thinking Of You [omitted here], also made # 30 Pop as well as # 2 Country. Slipping Around, a # 2 Country in late in 1949, went to the # 17 Pop position in December, and that same month his version of Blue Christmas reached # 1 Country and # 23 Pop. In August 1950 his duet with Red Foley on Goodnight Irene was another # 1 Country that also climbed to # 10 Pop. It, too, is omitted here, as are his final two Pop crossovers, I'll Miss You When You Go (# 22 in March 1953 but strangely shut out of the Country charts, and Counterfeit Kisses (# 25 in November 1953 and the B-side to the # 9 Country Divorce Granted (not here either).

In retrospect, and recognizing that this volume was to concentrate solely on Ernest, we would have been better served had they omitted tracks 2 and 13 and the low-ranking Waltz Across Texas [# 34 in 1965], and instead included three of the missing # 1's: the melancholy Rainbow At Midnight [2 weeks in late 1946], Slipping Around, and Blue Christmas.

The AAD sound quality is perfect and, in addition to a partial discography of the contents [no chart information], you get close to six pages of background notes written by Ronnie Pugh of the Country Music Foundation.

Ernest, who passed away at age 70 on September 6, 1984, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1965. His son, Justin, also had a decent career, putting seven selections onto the Country charts from 1954 to 1967.

I'm so sorry to tell you this, A Music Fan, but, darling, there is just no one out there today who can take his place or even come close. True country music, I'm afraid, is gone forever except in these albums, CDs, etc. that they've left for us. Thanks to Amazon, I'm able to purchase the CDs in order to save my LPs and cassettes.

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