An Acrobat of The Heart

Acrobat already has on catalogue collections which present “America’s No. 1s of the ‘50s” (ACFCD7501), “America's No. 1s of the '40s” (ACSCD6005), “America’s R&B No. 1s of the ‘50s” (ACSCD6003), “America’s R&B No. 1s Of The '40s” (ACQCD7168), and “Country No. 1s of the '50s” (ACTRCD9034), and this release completes that set with presenting the “Country No. 1s of the ‘40s”.

Eddie Fisher was one of biggest stars of the first half of the 1950s, both as a singer and movie actor, and had more than 60 hits across the Billboard, Cash Box and UK charts. He was a singer very much of his era, with an old-school formal singing style that was ideally suited to the big-voiced ballads of the early ‘50s but did not translate well into the rock ‘n’ roll era, and he had his last Top 10 hit a few months after Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel” topped the charts in 1956. This great value 80-track 3-CD set comprises all his chart entries on the Columbia, RCA-Victor, 7-Arts and ABC-Paramount labels from this era, plus selected A & B sides from his other singles during these years. It features his US and UK No. 1s with “Wish You Were Here”, “I’m Walking Behind You”, “Outside Of Heaven”, “Oh My Pa Pa” and “I Need You Now”, and includes his hits with The Marlin Sisters, Perry Como, Sally Sweetland and Hugo Winterhalter, plus a duet with Debbie Reynolds. It’s a comprehensive overview of his career as a chart artist, and an enjoyable showcase for his notable talents as a highly distinctive song stylist from a golden age of traditional pop.

Mac Wiseman was a an American bluegrass and country singer, as well as a bass player and guitarist, who hailed from Virginia, and came to the fore with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs’ Foggy Mountian Boys in 1948 and later played with Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys. In 1951 he signed a solo deal with Dot Records and immediately shot to prominence with his big seller “Tis Sweet To Be Remembered”. He sang with a clear, mellow tenor voice that helped him stand out from the usual run of bluegrass performers in his early career, with his appealing style earning him the nickname of “The Voice With A Heart”. This great-value 59-track 2-CD collection comprises selected A & B sides from his releases on Dot during this era, as he gradually moved from bluegrass towards more mainstream country and pop-flavoured material. It features his Top 10 country hits from these years with “The Ballad Of Davy Crockett” and “Jimmy Brown The Newsboy”. He was a noted ambassador for traditional country music over the years, and this collection provides an admirable showcase for his distinctive style of the genre.

The Herald label was founded in 1950 by Fred Mendelsohn, formerly with Savoy, and he was soon joined by Al Silver, who owned the pressing plant that made the label’s records. Silver had an ear for R&B and doowop, and built Herald into a creative hub for R&B recording and most particularly becoming renowned for its output of doowop recordings by a string of different groups during the late ‘50s and into the 1960s.

Rose Maddox was a country singer, songwriter and fiddle player from Alabama, whose family migrated to California in the 1930s, where she started singing on radio and formed a band with her brothers, who performed and recorded for a decade after WWII as the Maddox Brothers & Rose.

The JFK Inauguration Hot 100 20th January 1961 is a captivating album that captures the essence of one of the most significant moments in American history. Released by Acrobat, this compilation features various artists who were at the peak of their careers during that time. With a total running time of approximately XX minutes, this album offers a unique and nostalgic musical experience. This album takes listeners on a journey back to January 20th, 1961, when John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as the 35th President of the United States.

Jerry Reed was a country singer, guitarist and songwriter, whose also became a movie actor, appearing more then a dozen films. His primary era of fame and chart success was in the late ‘60s and then the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with his roots in country in his early career he established a significant reputation during the 1950s and early ‘60s, operating across the boundaries of country, rockabilly and rock ‘n’ roll, and had his first pop chart entries. He was also a much-in-demand session guitarist on the records of his label-mates. This 58-track 2-CD collection comprises the A & B sides of singles under his own name on the Capitol, Columbia and NRC labels during these years, along with tracks on which he was a session guitarist, and often composer, by Ric Cartey, The Rockateers, Paul Peek, Johnny Sea, Sweetie Jones, Gini Hayes and country legend Porter Wagoner. It features his US pop chart entries “Soldiers Joy”, Love And War (Ain’t Much Difference In The Two)” and “Hully Gully Guitars”. He became a hugely influential and high-profile personality in later years and this early-years collection makes it clear how he acquired that reputation, as well as offering an enlightening insight into his talents across every aspect of the music, as composer, guitarist and singer.

Ethel Waters was a singer and actress from Pennsylvania, whose music ranged across jazz, stage musicals, movies and pure pop in a career that spanned more than three decades.