Tennessee Ernie Ford

In the spring of 1953, Tennessee Ernie Ford -- then near the peak of his popularity -- recorded an amazing amount of transcriptions for RadiOzark at Western Recorders on 6000 Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. Twenty-three songs from those sessions are on this important archival collection, which isn't only of interest to Ford fans or early country scholars. For one thing, the sound, considering the age and source of the original recordings, is amazing -- it's clear and full, on par with studio sessions for commercial releases. Also, Ford is backed by a fine band including pedal steel virtuoso Speedy West, a notable recording artist in his own right who gets an instrumental showcase for his astonishing steel guitar work on Rodgers & Hart's "Lover." Also in the lineup are a young Billy Strange on rhythm guitar, Billy Liebert on accordion and piano, George Bruns on bass and trombone, and Harold Hensley on violin and clarinet, with most of the guys also contributing backup vocals. Though Ford was nominally a country singer, the songs selected for this compilation show him to be at home with interpreting many strains of American popular music through his easygoing style, from covers of hits by Eddy Arnold, Bunny Berigan, and Fats Waller to standards like "Try a Little Tenderness," "There'll Be Some Changes Made," and Hoagy Carmichael's "Up a Lazy River" and "Georgia on My Mind." These might have been recorded in a professional studio for radio transcriptions, but the result comes off almost like an informal living room/front porch musical get-together, Ford joking around amiably with his band between songs. It should be acknowledged that for all its quality, this is nonetheless not the place to hear Ford at his best or most representative, it being light on the country boogies for which he was most known for playing on his hit records of the period, and heavier on his covers of non-country pop tunes than might be expected. But as good-sounding and well-played material showing another facet of Ford in his prime, it's hard to beat. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide