1-CD with 36-page booklet, 30 tracks, playing time 75:34 minutes

Bluegrass and traditional country music fans had almost given up hope that they would ever hear the classic recordings on this CD. Although Carl Butler is best known for his #1 country hit Don't Let Me Cross Over, he had a long and prolific career that began in Knoxville in the late 1940s and continued until Carl Butler's death in 1992. The first installment in Bear Family's documentation of the great and greatly underrated Carl Butler was 'A Blue Million Tears' (BCD 16118), which included all the Capitol and Okeh recordings made between 1950 and 1953.

Now we pick up the story in 1954, and we're not only including all of Carl Butler's unbelievably hard-to-find Columbia recordings made between 1954 and 1958, but the recordings that he made with the Webster Brothers?recordings that those lucky enough to hear them regard as the pinnacle of country gospel and hard country. Among the highlight songs are the original version of I Wouldn't Change You If I Could (later a #1 country hit for Ricky Skaggs) and a version of Angel Band that not only preceded the Stanley Brothers' recording but is regarded by many as the absolutely definitive version of this classic song (later recorded by Emmylou Harris and countless others). Other highlights are his recordings with the Webster Brothers, plus a few Webster solos.

Track Listing

• That's All Right
• I'll Go Steppin' Too
• Kisses Don't Lie
• I Wouldn't Change You If I Could
• Till The End Of The World Rolls 'round
• It's All Left Up To You
• Glory Mountain
• That Great Eternal Singing
• Seven Years Blues
• Road Of Broken Hearts
• Looking Through The Windows Of Heaven
• Angel Band
• Hallelujah, We Shall Rise!
• Walking In God's Sunshine
• Your Wedding Day
• If I Could Spend My Heartaches
• It's My Sin
• Borrowed Love
• Where We Never Grow Old
• Somebody Touched Me
• Only One Heart
• Watching The Clock (Tick The Hours Away)
• River Of Tears
• Cry You Fool Cry
• Your Cold Heart Told Me No
• I Know What It Means To Be Lonesome
• Jealous Heart
• Nothing I'd Rather Do
• So Close
• If You've Got The Money (I've Got The Time)

Additional Details

Label: Bear Family Records

Genre: Country

Run Time: 75 mins

Release Date: 01/02/07

UPC: 4000127166999