Great Country Songs

In this era of MTV and multi-media rock stage shows, it's easy to forget that rock and roll was originally considered "hillbilly" music. Similarly, it would no doubt surprise many Elvis fans to discover that the king of rock and roll charted on the Billboard country charts--several times--six months before he hit the pop charts with "Heartbreak Hotel". And yet Elvis Presley, the original "Hillbilly Cat", never strayed too far from his country roots, as the 1996 anthology GREAT COUNTRY SONGS demonstrates.
This impressive collection includes 24 tracks from throughout Presley's career, from his 1955 country hit "I Forgot to Remember to Forget" to a 1976 cover of Jim Reeves' classic "He'll Have to Go" (which, incidentally, was Elvis' final studio recording). As an inducement to fans that already own most of these recordings, RCA has included five previously unreleased alternate takes amid the more familiar fare. The true value of this package, however, is that it gathers all Presley's most important country recordings on a single disc. As an added bonus, the backing tracks feature great support from such country legends as James Burton, Floyd Cramer, and Chet Atkins.|