Bear in The Big Blue House

Various Artists - The Bakersfield Sound - Country Music Capital Of The West 1940-1974 (2019) {10CD Set Bear Family BCD16036}
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© 1940-74, 2019 Bear Family Records | BCD 16036
Country / Traditional Country / Bakersfield Sound / Honky Tonk

Buck Owens turned Bakersfield, California into the epicenter of hip country music in the mid-'60s. All it took was a remarkable streak of number one singles that steam rolled right through Nashville with their electrified twang, forever changing the notion of what constituted country music and codifying the Bakersfield sound as hard-driving rhythms, trebly Telecasters, and lean arrangements suited for honky tonks, beer joints, and jukeboxes all across America. Half-a-century later, these remain sonic signifiers of Bakersfield, so the term no longer conveys a specific sound, place, and era, a situation the weighty Bear Family box The Bakersfield Sound: Country Music Capital of the West 1940-1974 intends to rectify.

A characteristically humongous (8-CD) box set from the wonderful obsessive-compulsives at Bear Family, documenting the Killer's '60s tenure at Smash Records. Lewis made consistently good music during this period, but the combination of his personal scandals and the British Invasion made him a pariah to radio programmers until mid-decade, when he returned to his country roots. Highlights of the set include the entirety of a Texas live show, with Lewis and his crack band rendering various early rock standards at dangerously high (i.e., proto punk) speed, some excellent duets with his (then) wife Linda Gail, and gorgeous renditions of standards like Willie Nelson's "Funny How Time Slips Away" and Merle Haggard's "Lonesome Fugitive." Lewis fans with deep pockets should grab this one immediately…

The 11 years covered in this first of two Don Gibson retrospectives by the German Bear Family label are the most captivating in his career.

Frankie Miller - Blackland Farmer - The Complete Starday Recordings and More (2008) {3CD, Bear Family BCD16566CH rec 1957-1969}
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© 1957-69, 2008 Starday / Bear Family Records | BCD16566CH
Country / Honky Tonk / Rockabilly

Good-natured and unassuming, and possessing an easy, slightly raspy baritone voice that brought an everyman feel to everything he sang, Frankie Miller ought to be a household name in country circles, but he isn't, and his relative obscurity as the 21st century opens is as much a mystery as it is unforgivable. Although he recorded often, Miller's key years were with Don Pierce's Starday label out of Nashville in the late '50s and early '60s (roughly 1959 to 1963), the time period covered by this marvelous three-disc anthology from Bear Family Records.

Put the CD on, and it's not so much a sound heard once more as one that's completely reborn. In this case, that's the sound of the Gram Parsons-era Byrds. There's a fire, and sometimes frivolity in what Railroad Earth does that evokes more than the spirit, but without ever sounding like copyists; it's as if they've arrived at the same destination all by themselves, penning some glorious songs along the way, like the up-tempo "Drag Him Down," the spiritual quest of "Like a Buddha," and the fairly epic "Walk On By."…..

On the eve of the New Year I offer you a small insight into the already so far away, but so cool twentieth century. And remember it will help you to Mario Lanza, Marilyn Monroe, Bill Haley & His Comets, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Louis Armstrong, Pat Boone, Jerry Lee Lewis, Perry Como, Paul Anka, Roy Orbison, Scorpions, Bob Dylan, The Mama's & Papa's, Stevie Wonder, Van Morrison, Fleetwood Mac, Simon & Garfunkel, David Bowie, Johnny Cash, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Shocking Blue, Guess Who, Black Sabbath, Jefferson Airplane, Rod Stewart, The Byrds, The Kinks and many many others … The greatest hits of the past millennium. Need I say more? Download and enjoy the great past.

Sleepy LaBeef - Larger Than Life (1955-1979) {6CD Deluxe Box Set, Bear Family BCD15662 rel 1996}
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© 1955-79, 1996 Sun / Bear Family Records | BCD 15662
Rockabilly / Country / Traditional Country

All of Sleepy LaBeef's most important records – from his early singles for Starday to his latter-day sides for Sun – are included on the mammoth, six-disc box set Larger Than Life. LaBeef recorded for a number of different labels during his career, and during that time, he explored a variety of roots music, from rockabilly and country to blues and soul. Spanning three full decades, Larger Than Life contains 158 tracks, including all of his recordings for Starday, Dixie, Columbia, and Sun.

George Jones - A Good Year For The Roses: The Complete Musicor Recordings 1965-1971, Part 2 (2009) {Bear Family BCD16929}
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© 1967-71, 2009 Bear Family Records | BCD 16929 DI
Country / Honky Tonk / Nashville Country / Country Gospel / Country Pop

George Jones' classic Musicor recordings have been out of circulation for years while a lawsuit was resolved. George Jones' Musicor recordings were never issued systematically or in full until now! George Jones' Musicor recordings were never issued in premium sound quality until now! The set includes 20 previously unissued recordings. Includes all-time classic George Jones hits, such as When The Grass Grows Over Me, I'll Share My World With You, As Long As I Live, and one of the greatest ever country classics, A Good Year For The Roses! Plus the earliest duets with Tammy Wynette! The second of two boxes. Together, they include every Musicor recording, except the duets with Gene Pitney (available elsewhere on Bear Family)!

It's a statement of Johnny Cash's longevity that the eight albums collected here – each one a concept collection devoted to American historical themes – were considered worthy and viable commercial releases back when, and that most were very successful. This four-CD set assembles Ride This Train, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Bitter Tears, Ballads of the True West, Mean as Hell! (Johnny Cash Sings Ballads from the True West), America: A 200 Year Salute in Story and Song, From Sea to Shining Sea, and The Rambler, all in one place. They fit together as a body of work, and he put a lot of heart into all of these songs individually…