Complete Us & UK Singles As & BS 1957-62 (CD) – Jimmie Rodgers

Jimmie Rodgers, not to be confused with the pioneering hillbilly country artist of the early ’30s, was a hugely successful artist in the pop charts during the late ’50s and early ’60s, his work transcending the barriers between pop, country, folk and R&B to give him a succession of major hits on both sides of the Atlantic. He was one of the many successful artists to emerge from the influential Arthur Godfrey Talent Show on radio, and was one of the first artists signed to Maurice Levy’s Roulette label in 1957. Working with ace producers Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore, he scored a No. 1 with his debut single “Honeycomb” and followed it up with “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine”, “Oh-Oh, I’m Falling In Love Again” and “Secretly”, benefitting from a supply of fine songs by the top team of Al Hoffman and Dick Manning. This collection comprises the A and B side of all his releases through to 1962, when he enjoyed his last Top 30 success with a UK No. 5 with “English Country Garden”. It’s an enjoyable journey through the most important years of the career of an artist who successfully sat alongside the high-profile exponents of rock ‘n’ roll appealing to the middle ground of pop in the years before the British invasion.

Track List

1. Honeycomb
2. Their Hearts Were Full of Spring
3. Kisses Sweeter Than Wine
4. Better Loved You’ll Never Be
5. Oh Oh I’m Falling in Love Again
6. The Long Hot Summer
7. Secretly
8. Make Me a Miracle
9. Are You Really Mine
10. The Wizard
11. Woman from Liberia
12. Girl in the Wood
13. Bimbombey
14. You Understand Me
15. I’m Never Gonna Tell
16. Because You’re Young
17. Ring-A-Ling-A-Lario
18. Wonderful You
19. Soldier Won’t You Marry Me
20. Tucumcari
21. The Night You Became Seventeen
22. Wistful Willie
23. It’s Christmas Once Again
24. Waltzing Matilda
25. T. L. C. Tender Love and Care
26. Just a Closer Walk with Thee
27. Joshua Fit the Battle Jericho
28. The Wreck of the John B
29. Four Little Girls in Boston
30. Come Along Julie
31. When Love Is Young
32. The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come
33. Every Time My Heart Sings
34. I’m on My Way
35. I’m Going Home
36. John Brown’s Baby
37. A Little Dog Cried
38. English Country Garden
39. You Are Everything to Me
40. Wanderin’ Eyes
41. No One Will Ever Know
42. Because
43. The Fox and the Goose
44. Rainbow at Midnight
45. Rhumba Boogie