Honky Tonk

This is what most people identify as "country"-the whining steel and fiddle sound of the honky tonk bands that sprung up in the 50's with the advent of amplification.

Moe Bandy
Honky Tonk Amnesia: The Hard Country Sound of Moe Bandy

This CD is a definitive example of the '70s "hard country" sound. It's packed with great songs and playing, and while Bandy won't be confused with George Jones, he gets the most out of his voice. Great, great stuff that would still sound just right in a country bar today.

Lefty Frizzell
Look What Thoughts Will Do (2 CDs)

If you've ever wondered why country singers do that funky note-bending thing when they sing, here's your answer. Frizzell is the model for almost all contemporary male hard country singers, and was a great songwriter in the "simple and sincere" school of country songwriting before hard living caught up with him.

Further Listening: This collection ends in the early '60s. After a decade-long drought, Lefty cut some good stuff in the early '70s that is collected on That's the Way Love Goes: The Final Recordings of Lefty Frizzell, which is now out of print. The pricy That's the Way Life Goes: The Hit Songs 1950-1975 covers both the early era and the '70s comeback material.

Link: Here's an excellent Lefty Frizzell site with a complete discography, session information, lyrics archive and more.

Johnny Horton
Honky Tonk Man (2 CDs)

Horton's here because I don't know where else to put him. To be kind, vision wasn't his strong point--he'd probably have been happy singing the phone book. But Horton had a tremendous voice, and he or someone else picked a couple dozen songs, some even co-written by Horton, that stand up to any country music ever cut.

There are plenty of rockabilly and honky tonk classics on this collection, which is slightly marred by the inclusion of too many of the "saga" songs that were all the rage for a while. Still, it's got classic music that can't be found anywhere else, and the price is more than fair. If only they'd included my favorite song, Whispering Pines…

Ray Price
Essential

Ray Price started out as a Hank Williams protégé, and ended up as a crooning country smoothie. In between, he was one of the best honky tonk singers ever, and was the originator of the "Ray Price beat," a shuffle feel that replaced the previously dominant swing feel (Listen to Falling, Falling, Falling versus Crazy Arms to hear the difference). This should be one of your first purchases.

Price was also a champion of songwriters. This disc features some of the earliest and greatest songs by A-team writers like Roger Miller, Bill Anderson, Don Gibson and Harlan Howard.

Carl Smith
Essential

Carlene Carter's daddy was a big '50s honky tonk star, and one of the first Nashville guys to use drums prominently. There are a bunch of really good songs here, including the way-cool Hey Joe!, which is definitely not the Hendrix song.

Gary Stewart
Out of Hand/Your Place or Mine
List price: $17.98

Out of Hand is a stone classic, and one of the greatest country albums ever made. Gary Stewart's high tenor lead voice sends shivers down my spine every time I hear it, and the songs and performances here are his best ever. This album delves deeply into the honky tonk lifestyle, which eventually caught up with him and sidelined him for a few years.

It's available a single CD, or in this package along with the similarly excellent Your Place or Mine.

Further Listening: If you like this one, you should get Gary's Greatest, a collection with more of the '70s stuff and some recent cuts that stand up to it, or the very similar Essential collection.

Ernest Tubb
The Definitive Collection

ET was definitely a one trick pony, and maybe not the most talented of musicians. Still, he was probably the originator of the honky tonk sound. ET always had a hot band and wrote or found a bunch of country standards. This is the first really good single-CD collection to be released. It's missing some classic cuts, among them the cheater's lament Take Me Back and Try Me, but it's the best available. What's here is as classic as it gets.

Hank Williams
40 Greatest Hits (2 CDs)

Hank Williams is a fundamental part of any American music collection. You won't go wrong if you dig deep and pick up the 3-CD Complete Singles Collection…Plus, but this one will do you for a while, and the price is right.

Missing in Action: The Country Music Foundation had a series of great single disc collections of Webb Pierce, Johnny Paycheck, and Faron Young that have gone out of print and are now fetching ridiculous prices on the used market. All are recommended if money's not an object, especially the unjustly forgotten Pierce, who proves over and over that you don't necessarily have to be obsessive about being in tune to be a great country singer.