It's a fascinating and entertaining musical snapshot of the country scene as the music industry entered a dynamic new musical era

This release continues the series of 4-CD sets which comprises selected collections of the biggest US country hits of each year, and this expanded edition provides a fuller picture of 1954 than our existing 2-CD set devoted to that year (ADDCD3025) This 90-track collection covers the year of 1954, during which time Billboard published three charts devoted to Country & Western Records - Best Sellers In Stores, Most Played in Juke Boxes and Most Played by Disc Jockeys - and it comprises every record which peaked in the Top 15 of those charts during the year, apart from one we are unable to include. The pop landscape was still only feeling the first stirrings of rock 'n' roll, and on the country scene, the familiar names still dominated the scene, some of them having long-running No. 1s during the year, notably Hank Snow and Webb Pierce, with those two, along with Carl Smith, Kitty Wells, Eddy Arnold. Slim Whitman, Ray Price and Jim Reeves all having several big hits. Some of those were introducing new strands to the music with the development of the smoother 'new Nashville' sound around this time, with vocal choruses instead of fiddles and steel guitars. Needless to say there are also one or two collectable obscurities. It's a fascinating and entertaining musical snapshot of the country scene as the music industry entered a dynamic new musical era, and with an in-depth 12,000+ word booklet with background notes on every record as well as full discographical and chart information, it gives a solid overview of the most popular country music of the year.

Track Listing

• Webb Pierce - There Stands The Glass
• Hank Locklin - Let Me Be The One
• Davis Sisters - I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know
• Mitchell Torok - Caribbean
• Jean Shepard & Ferlin Husky - A Dear John Letter
• Hank Snow - When Mexican Joe Met Jole Blon
• Carl Smith - Hey Joe
• Hank Williams with His Drifting Cowboys - Weary Blues From Waiting
• Slim Whitman - North Wind
• Bill Carlisle & The Carlisles - Tain't Nice (To Talk Like That)
• Jim Reeves - Bimbo
• Jimmy Heap and The Melody Master with Perk Williams - Release Me
• Carl Smith - Satisfaction Guaranteed
• Webb Pierce - I'm Walking The Dog
• Mitchell Torok - Hootchy Kootchie Henry (From Hawaii)
• Kitty Wells - Cheatin's A Sin
• Pee Wee King & Redd Stewart - Changing Partners
• Webb Pierce - Slowly
• Hank Thompson & His Brazos Valley Boys - Wake Up, Irene
• Slim Whitman - Secret Love
• Lefty Frizzell - Run 'Em Off
• Red Foley & Betty Foley - As Far As I'm Concerned

• Ginny Wright & Jim Reeves - I Love You
• Tommy Collins - You Better Not Do That
• Carl Smith - Dog-Gone It, Baby, I'm In Love
• Kitty Wells - Release Me
• Pee Wee King & Redd Stewart - Bimbo
• Eddy Arnold - My Everything
• Al Terry - Good Deal, Lucille
• Hank Thompson & His Brazos Valley Boys - Breakin' The Rules
• Eddy Arnold - I Really Don't Want To Know
• Ray Price - I'll Be There (If You Ever Want Me)
• Ray Price - Release Me
• Hank Thompson & His Brazos Valley Boys - A Fooler, A Faker
• Slim Whitman - Rose-Marie
• Red Foley - Jilted
• Johnnie and Jack, The Tennessee Mountain Boys - (Oh Baby Mine) I Get So Lonely
• Carl Smith - Back Up Buddy
• Hank Snow - I Don't Hurt Anymore
• Jim Reeves - Then I'll Stop Loving You
• Webb Pierce - Even Though
• Ray Price - Much Too Young To Die
• The Carlisles - Shake-A-Leg
• Hank Thompson & His Brazos Valley Boys - Honky Tonk Girl
• Jimmy Newman - Cry, Cry Darling

• Kitty Wells & Red Foley - I'm A Stranger In My Home
• Pee Wee King & Redd Stewart - Backward, Turn Backward
• Webb Pierce With The Wilburn Brothers - Sparkling Brown Eyes
• Hank Thompson & His Brazos Valley Boys - We've Gone Too Far
• Kitty Wells & Red Foley - One By One
• Johnnie and Jack, The Tennessee Mountain Boys - Honey I Need You
• Billy Walker - Thank You For Calling
• Little Jimmy Dickens - Out Behind The Barn
• Marty Robbins - Pretty Words
• Homer & Jethro - Hernando's Hideaway
• Goldie Hill & Justin Tubb - Looking Back To See
• Jim Edward and Maxine Brown - Looking Back To See
• Wanda Jackson & Billy Gray - You Can't Have My Love
• Johnnie and Jack, The Tennessee Mountain Boys - Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight
• Eddy Arnold - Hep Cat Baby
• T. Texas Tyler - Courtin' In The Rain
• Carl Smith - Go, Boy, Go
• Tennessee Ernie Ford - River Of No Return
• Tommy Collins - Whatcha Gonna Do Now
• Faron Young - A Place For Girls Like You
• Terry Fell - Don't Drop It
• Stuart Hamblen - This Ole House

• Eddy Arnold - This Is The Thanks I Get (For Loving You)
• Ernest Tubb - Two Glasses, Joe
• The Carlisles - Honey Love
• Webb Pierce - More And More
• Slim Whitman - Singing Hills
• Jim Reeves - Penny Candy
• Sonny James - She Done Give Her Heart To Me
• Marty Robbins - Call Me Up (And I'll Come Calling On You)
• Marilyn & Wesley Tuttle - Never
• Jimmy & Johnny - If You Don't Somebody Else Will
• Ray Price & His Cherokee Cowboys - If You Don't Somebody Else Will
• Webb Pierce - You're Not Mine Anymore
• Hank Snow and His Rainbow Ranch Boys - That Crazy Mambo Thing
• Eddy Arnold - Christmas Can't Be Far Away
• Hank Thompson & His Brazos Valley Boys - The New Green Light
• Kitty Wells - Thou Shalt Not Steal
• Carl Smith - More Than Anything Else In The World
• Carl Smith - Loose Talk
• Hank Snow - Let Me Go Lover
• Faron Young - If You Ain't Lovin' (You Ain't Livin')
• Johnnie and Jack, The Tennessee Mountain Boys - Beware Of 'It'
• Johnnie and Jack, The Tennessee Mountain Boys - Kiss Crazy Baby
• Porter Wagoner - Company's Comin'

Additional Details

Label: Acrobat

Genre: Country

Run Time: 287 mins

Region: 0

Release Date: 04/04/25

UPC: 824046718824