Bread & Gravy: The Complete Recordings 1952-1955 [Import]

• Track Listing

A superstar of traditional country music and bluegrass for over half a century, and a regular on Nashville's 'Grand Ole Opry' from the 1940s until (quite literally) the day he died, Louis Marshall 'Grandpa' Jones had a longevity that few of today's top country talents will ever be able to match. He was far from being a Grandpa when he first recorded in the 1940s, but his whiskery, curmudgeonly persona caught on quickly with the public and kept him popular until he was a Grandpa several times over in real life. Grandpa was a prolific artist from the minute he first set foot in a recording studio. His many earlier and later 1940s and 50s recordings have been comprehensively anthologised in the digital era. Somewhat surprisingly, though, nearly four years' worth of recordings that he cut for RCA Victor between 1952 and 1956 have largely been overlooked by compilers - until now, that is. 'Bread And Gravy' brings together every single one of Grandpa's recordings from this period, with many of them being reissued for the first time in nearly 50 years and, indeed, some of them for the first time ever! As well as thirty solo recordings - all of them cut with the cream of 50s Nashville's session musicians - you'll find duets with his wife Ramona and Kitty Wells' daughter Ruby - plus 5 duets with his great friend, comedienne Minnie Pearl. As a further bonus, we include all of Minnie's own solo recordings from the same period - and in most cases, the same sessions - as her duets with Grandpa. This is unvarnished hillbilly music, the likes of which is seldom heard in a Nashville recording studio anymore. 'Bread And Gravy' is a window on a world long since passed, but still as highly enjoyable to look through (and listen to!) as it was more than 70 years ago.

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