The Very Best of the Country Years

Some know the legendary only as either a wild banshee or a singer. was also a solid, original singer and this collection by , one of the very best assembled onto a single disc, proves the point in spades. When emerged form the years, her records contained more than a little of that untamable spirit that made her hits of the 1950s so essential. The recordings in this set cover the years 1958 to 1972. They say as much about Nashville as they do -- check out the prototype-psychedelic guitar solo in from 1961. There's a ton of fuzz in the riff, and the solo itself is the progenitor of ' sound. walked the line between the sophisticated phrasing of (check ) and the throaty, wilder, rawer, and hillbilly sounds ( ). There are 30 selections on this platter that run the gamut between the two poles. The bluesy hard edge in the grain of 's voice would never allow her to become so mainstream as to be a national icon, and her competition was stiff: , , and were just a few of 's biggest stars at the time. also never let the completely go out of her way of singing a song, even in the real weepers like the pedal steel drenched and the string-soaked The tunes from the later '60s with horns (akin to the ) as heard in 1968's gave a wider platform to let her considerable voice rip. Of course, and are both here as well, representing 's last hits for . The set ends with a song recorded as her last single for in 1972, and the a burning rendition of from a 1969 live album produced by . For those who snagged the single disc of 's material, this one from is the next essential chapter in the story. ~ Thom Jurek