He was a highly distinctive talent, and addressing as it does a dynamic and varied era in the genre,

Roy Acuff was a hugely important personality in the development of modern country, a singer and fiddle-player who became an influential music publisher with songwriter Fred Rose as owners of the the Acuff-Rose company in Nashville, helping to move the industry from its hillbilly origins towards the singer-based styles of the post-war era. He was so popular in his day that hank Williams said: 'He's the biggest singer this music ever knew. ... For drawing power in the South, it was Roy Acuff, then God.' Born in Tennessee in 1903, he started performing in the 1930s on the medicine show circuit before forming his first bands, which eventually became The Smoky Mountain Boys. He recorded prolifically through the years and this 54-track 2-CD collection comprises selected A & B sides of his releases on the Vocalion/Conqueror, Okeh, Columbia, Capitol, Decca and Hickory labels from the quarter-century period it covers. It features all his US pop and country hits from these years, including the Top 10 hits, 'The Prodigal Son', 'I'll Forgive You But I Can't Forget', 'Write Me Sweetheart', '(Our Own) Jole Blon', 'Waltz Of The Wind', 'Once More', and other classics like 'The Great Speckled Bird', 'Wabash Cannonball' and 'Tennessee Waltz'. He was a highly distinctive talent, and addressing as it does a dynamic and varied era in the genre, this collection showcases Roy's music across the years.

Track Listing

Disc 1:

• New Greenback Dollar
• Steamboat Whistle Blues
• Great Speckled Bird
• Wabash Cannon Ball
• Blue Ridge Sweetheart
• That Beautiful Picture
• An Old Three Room Shack
• The Rising Sun
• Answer To Sparkling Blue Eyes
• Living On The Mountain, Baby Mine
• Old Age Pension Check
• Ida Red
• Would You Care
• Will The Circle Be Unbroken
• Streamlined Cannonball
• Mule Skinner Blues
• Weary River
• Just To Ease My Worried Mind
• The Precious Jewel
• Be Honest With Me
• Are You Thinking Of Me Darling?
• Things That Might Have Been
• Fire Ball Mail
• Night Train To Memphis
• The Prodigal Son
• Write Me Sweetheart
• I'll Forgive You But I Can't Forget

Disc 2:

• We Live In Two Different Worlds
• That Glory Bound Train
• (Our Own) Jole Blon
• I Talk To Myself About You
• Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain
• Waltz Of The Wind
• Unloved And Unclaimed
• This World Can't Stand Long
• I'm Dying A Sinner's Death
• Were You There When They Crucified My Lord
• Tennessee Waltz
• Lonesome Indian
• The Day They Laid Mary Away
• If I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again
• Pliney Jane
• Advice To Joe
• What Will I Do?
• Sixteen Chickens And A Tambourine
• Whoa, Mule
• That's What Makes The Jukebox Play
• Crazy Worried Mind
• Goodbye, Mr. Brown
• Once More
• So Many Times
• Come And Knock On The Door Of My Heart
• Mountain Guitar
• Lost John, He's Gone

Additional Details

Label: Acrobat

Genre: Country

Language: English

Run Time: 142 mins

Region: 0

Release Date: 10/10/25

UPC: 824046357122