The Hollywood Hepcats

The Hollywood Hepcats is a deluxe double-disc, 58-cut compilation of roots rockabilly and hillbilly boogie recorded for United Artists, Imperial and Capitol between 1956 and 1961 by name artists such as Wanda Jackson, Gene Vincent, Merle Travis, Tennessee Ernie Ford, the Maddox Brothers & Sister Rose, Tommy Duncan, and Eddie Cochran, Ricky Nelson, the Collins Kids Bob Luman, and Joe Maphis as well as lesser known, but no less important artists like Lew Williams, Johnny Faire, Gene Wyatt, and Kenny McKennon, just to name a few. The hip thing here is that most of these cuts are not obvious selections. In other words, there is no "Be Bop A Lula" here, nor is there a "Hello Mary Lou"; instead, we get obscure sides, like Dorsey Burnette's smokin' "Bertha Lou," Jackson's "Cool Love," Williams' "Centipede," Eddie Dean's "Rock and Roll Cowboy," and Skeets McDonald's "Don't Push Me Too Far." The set is divvied up with the hillbilly boogie tracks on the first disc and more straight-up rockabilly on disc two. Either way you cut it, this is one killer comp. ~ Thom Jurek