Columbia Country Classics, Vol. 4: The Nashville Sound

Performer: Various Artists
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: The Nashville Sound picks things up in the mid-'50s, and chronicles the rise of country-pop (aka the Nashville sound). In 1955 Marty Robbins made number one on the country charts with a mixture of pristine honky tonk and smooth vocals in "Singing the Blues." This and many of the early tracks on this collection were produced by Columbia's own Nashville sound architect Don Law, who would bring honky tonk to its logical and streamlined extreme; Ray Price still sounds polished even without strings ("Night Life") and Hawkshaw Hawkins jumps into the fray with an appealing choral and country mixture ("I Can't Seem to Say Goodbye"). Law would reach his peak with Billy Walker's seamless, easy listening rendition of the Willie Nelson perennial "Funny How Time Slips Away." Producer Billy Sherrill took the reigns in 1965, and pushed the Nashville sound to its peak, with up-in-the-mix strings and choir, plenty of echo and reverb, and rhythm sections that sounded unobtrusively compact. Sherrill found quick success with David Houston's "Almost Persuaded," Tammy Wynette's career-defining hit "Stand By Your Man," and later with luxuriously arranged hits for George Jones. Charlie Rich's hugely successful crossover hits "Behind Close Doors" and "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World," though, would be Sherrill's watermark and come to represent the apex of the Nashville sound. Along with Rich's hits, Lynn Anderson's "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden," Barbara Mandrell's "The Midnight Oil," and Tanya Tucker's "Would You Lay With Me (In a Field of Stone)" would set the stage for country's transformation into the ultra-polished music it became during the '80s and '90s. ~ Stephen Cook Country Classics, Vol. 4: The Nashville Sound is a superb, 26-track collection that functions as a showcase for Billy Sherrill's lush, sweeping production. Few single discs capture the sound of '60s and early-'70s country-pop as well as this, and that's even more remarkable when you consider it's culled solely from the vaults of Columbia and Epic Records. Among the artists showcased are Johnny Cash ("I Still Miss Someone," "Ring of Fire"), Marty Robbins ("Singing the Blues," "Devil Woman"), June Carter ("Jackson"), Hawkshaw Hawkins ("I Can't Seem to Say Goodbye"), David Houston ("Almost Persuaded," "My Elusive Dreams"), Sandy Posey ("Bring Him Safely Home to Me"), Johnny Paycheck ("She's All I Got"), Stonewall Jackson ("A Wound Time Can't Erase"), George Jones ("A Picture of Me (Without You)," "The Grand Tour"), Ray Price ("For the Good Times"), Lynn Anderson ("I Never Promised You a Rose Garden"), Barbara Mandrell ("The Midnight Oil"), Tanya Tucker ("Would You Lay with Me in a Field of Stone") and Charlie Rich ("I Take It On Home," "Behind Closed Doors," "The Most Beautiful Girl"). ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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