First comprehensive overview of Red Sovine's early up-tempo honky tonk, hillbilly boogie and near-rockabilly recordings!

Includes rare songs unavailable since their original release in the 1950s and one previously unissued track!

Features Sovine's collaborations with label-mates Webb Pierce and Goldie Hill!

A 48- page booklet features one of the first detailed biographies of Sovine's early career!

Red Sovine is best remembered today for his sentimental, off-kilter trucker's recitations from the 1960s and 70s, but before the days of 'Phantom 309' and 'Teddy Bear', he was a journeyman country singer. The hits were few but he was a star for several decades. Sovine first found success when he joined the Louisiana Hayride as Hank Williams' replacement, and he followed Williams to Nashville, the Grand Ole Opry, and MGM Records. This collection features the best of his up-tempo hillbilly boogie, honky tonk and near-rockabilly sides for MGM, and Decca. Included are two duets with Goldie Hill - the country hit, 'Are You Mine', and their cover of the top ten R&B hit, 'Ko Ko Mo (I Love You So)', along with Sovine's #1 cover of George Jones' 'Why, Baby, Why' - featuring Webb Pierce. Also of special interest is the song 'You're Barking Up The Wrong Tree Now', a Hank Williams-Fred Rose song never officially recorded by Williams, along with the rockabilly classic 'Juke Joint Johnny' and many other rare recordings. Thirty-one great tracks of hillbilly and rockabilly music recorded between 1949 and 1961, rarely if ever reissued until now, that will be a revelation to country-rockabilly music fans only familiar with Sovine's later recordings. Randy Fox's liner notes provide the first extensive biography of Sovine's early career!