Inarguably a major recording act, Tennessee Ernie Ford (1919-1991) sold an estimated 90 million albums worldwide, and charted 17 Top Ten country singles and four Top Ten pop singles over a 35-year recording career. And he played significant - and pioneering - roles in radio and television broadcasting. All the secular-themed studio recordings from the first dozen years in the career of one of the most important crossover acts in the history of American popular music. Five CDs containing 154 tracks and a 120-page book with newly written essays, track-by-track album notes, a discography, label scans, and many rare photographs and illustrations. Early country hits including the chart-topping Mule Train (1949) and Ford's pioneering 'hillbilly boogie' smash The Shotgun Boogie (1950), as well as Ford's first major crossover hit, the 1950 duet (with Kay Starr) I'll Never Be Free. It also includes classics such as Rock City Boogie (with the Dinning Sisters, 1951) and Blackberry Boogie (1952) as well as overlooked delights as the train song Tennessee Local (1952), his 1952 interpretation of Willie Mabon's rhythm and blues hit I Don't Know. This boxed set includes two never-before-released songs (Slow Down and Small World), numerous Ford singles and album tracks not previously reissued on CD, and several rarities, including Ford's 1955 recitations of Davy Crockett tales, as well as Ford's 1958 public service jingles to promote the U. S. Marine Corps 'Toys for Tots' charitable program.
Disc: 1
1. I've Got the Milk 'Em in the Morning Blues
2. Tennessee Border
3. Philadelphia Lawyer
4. Country Junction
5. Smokey Mountain Boogie
6. You'll Find Her Name Written There
7. Put Your Arms Around Me
8. Anticipation Blues
9. Blues Stay Away from Me
10. Philosophy
11. Mule Train
12. The Donkey Serenade
13. The Cry of the Wild Goose
14. My Hobby
15. I've Got the Feed 'Em in the Mornin' (Change 'Em) Feed 'Em in the Evenin' Blues
16. Slow Down
17. I'll Never Be Free
18. Ain't Nobody's Business But My Own
19. The Lord's Lariat
20. What This Country Needs (Is a Good Old Fashioned Talk with the Lord)
21. Bright Lights and Blonde Haired Women
22. I Ain't Gona Let It Happen No More
23. The Shotgun Boogie
24. The Blue Canadian Rockies
25. It's the Talk of the Town
26. Cincinnati Dancing Pig
27. Leetle Juan Pedro
28. Tailor Made Woman
29. Stack-O-Lee
30. I'm a Bad Man
31. You Can Tell a Texan Everytime
32. The Strange Little Girl
33. Kentucky Waltz
Disc: 2
1. She's My Baby
2. Mister and Mississippi
3. Christmas Dinner
4. A Rootin' Tootin' Santa Claus
5. Oceans of Tears
6. You're My Sugar
7. Rock City Boogie
8. Streamlined Cannonball
9. Kissin' Bug Boogie
10. Woman Is a Five Letter Word
11. Hey, Good Lookin'
12. Cool, Cool Kisses
13. Hambone
14. The Gandy Dancer's Ball
15. Everybody's Got a Girl But Me
16. Fatback, Louisiana, USA
17. Snow Shoe Thompson
18. I'm Hog Tied Over You
19. False Hearted Girl
20. Tennessee Local
21. Blackberry Boogie
22. I Don't Know
23. Sweet Temptation
24. Don't Courtin' in a Hot Rod
25. We're A' Growin' Up
26. Hey! Mr Cotton Picker
27. Three Things (A Man Should Do)
28. Celebratin'
29. Kiss Me Big
Disc: 3
1. Catfish Boogie
2. This Must Be the Place!
3. The Honeymoon's Over
4. There Is Beauty in Everything
5. Somebody Bigger Than You and I
6. Have You Seen Her
7. Give Me Your Word
8. River of No Return
9. Eins, Zwei, Drei
10. Losing You
11. The Ballad of Davy Crockett
12. Farewell
13. The Death Hug / the Ballad of Davy Crockett / a Sensible Varmint
14. Crockett's Opinion of a Thunderstorm / Farewell
15. I Am a Pilgrim
16. His Hands
17. Sixteen Tons
18. You Don't Have to Be a Baby to Cry
19. Nine Pound Hammer
20. Trouble in Mind
21. That's All
22. John Henry
23. Chicken Road
24. Dark As a Dungeon
25. I Gave My Love a Cherry
26. Gaily the Troubadour
27. The Rovin' Gambler
28. The Last Letter
29. Who Will Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet
Disc: 4
1. False Hearted Girl
2. In the Pines
3. Bright Lights and Blonde Haired Women
4. The Rock, Roll Boogie
5. Call Me Darlin', Call Me Sweetheart, Call Me Dear
6. First Born
7. Have You Seen Her
8. One Suit
9. The Watermelon Song
10. The Lonely Man
11. Blackberry Boogie
12. She's My Baby
13. Kiss Me Big
14. Catfish Boogie
15. Smokey Mountain Boogie
16. Anticipation Blues
17. Shotgun Boogie
18. I've Got the Milk 'Em in the Morning Blues
19. Ain't Nobody's Business Taylor But My Own
20. I Ain't Gonna Let It Happen No More
21. Country Junction
22. The Lord's Lariat
23. In the Middle of An Island
24. Ivy League
25. Down Deep
26. Bless Your Pea Pickin' Heart
27. A-Sleepin' at the Foot of the Bed
28. Love Makes the World Go Round
29. Sunday Barbecue
30. Glad Rags
31. Toys for Tots (Short Version)
32. Toys for Tots (Long Version)
Disc: 5
1. Browns Ferry Blues
2. Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair
3. My Grandfather's Clock
4. Code of the Mountains
5. Small World
6. Left My Gal in the Mountains
7. Blackeyed Susie
8. Pretty Little Pink
9. Look Down (That Lonesome Road)
10. Love Is the Only Thing
11. Darby's Ram
12. Freight Train Blues
13. Barbara Allen
14. Twenty One Years
15. Old Blue
16. The Night Herding Song
17. Sunny Side of Heaven
18. Little Klinker
19. Jingle - the Brownie
20. Jealous Heart
21. I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know
22. I Really Don't Want to Know
23. Molly Darling
24. Don't Rob Another Man's Castle
25. I Can't Help It
26. Take Me in Your Arms and Hold Me
27. I Gotta Have My Baby Back
28. Bouquet of Roses
29. Cold, Cold Heart
30. I Love You So Much It Hurts
31. Half As Much
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