Hayseed Dixie

Following in the footsteps of Nouvelle Vague and Hayseed Dixie, German trio the Baseballs proved that the concept of the covers band needn't always be confined to weddings and bar mitzvahs with their debut album, Strike. Reviving the sounds of the '50s, their old-fashioned rock & roll interpretations of contemporary pop hits saw them enter the Top Ten across nine European countries, but now with the element of surprise removed, they face an uphill task if they are to avoid the novelty wearing off with their second album, Strings 'n' Stripes. Luckily, the Elvis lookalikes have upped the ante on their 14 tracks with a braver selection of song choices and their first-ever original composition, "Hard Not to Cry," an authentic barbershop quartet-inspired tale of heartbreak which could comfortably fit onto a vintage jukebox playlist.

Decca was a fairly wide-ranging label whose trademark sound was a strain of commercially palpable hillbilly pop perfected by producer (and, beginning in 1958, label head) Owen Bradley. These three discs offer an assortment of stars (Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly, Bill Monroe, Loretta Lynn), subordinates, and the uncelebrated. The latter, in fact, are what makes this box stand out. A great deal of the fun comes from antiquated time pieces like Johnny Wright's "Hello Vietnam" ("I hope theworld will come to learn/That fires we don't put out will bigger burn") or that master of the hayseed soliloquy Red Sovine's "If Jesus Came to Your House" ("Would you have to change your clothes before you let him in?/Or hide some magazines and put the Bible where they'd been?"). Overall, From The Vaults serves as an evocative sampler of what a rural jukebox was playing when Gunsmoke ruled the tube.