Truckers, Kickers, Cowboy Angels: The Blissed-Out Birth of Country Rock, Vol. 2: 1969

The second volume of 's seven-disc country-rock history focuses on 1969, a crucial year in the music's development. It was the year broke free from to form , it was the year released "Lay, Lady Lay," the year where consolidated their success with their second album and its single "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," the year when the San Francisco-exiled started to pine for "Texas Me," and, just as crucially, adopted cinematic Hollywood production for "Galveston" as drenched "Who's Gonna Mow Your Grass' with fuzz guitars. Every one of these developments illustrated how country-rock was breaking into the mainstream and not from any one direction, either: there are bunches of Bakersfield twang but also Southern-fried soul, sultry Nashville production, a bit of proto-outlaw storytelling, and plenty of stuff that lies somewhere in between. What impresses most about this second volume of -- because this, like its predecessor, doesn't dig deep as much as it establishes history -- is how vibrant and exciting all these cultural cross-currents feel. The two years covered on were the preamble: this is year zero of country-rock and in this excellent history, it still sounds invigorating and surprising. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine