5-CD box (LP-size) with 44-page book, 143 tracks. Playing time approx. 360 mns

One of the pioneers of West Coast country music and an archetypal honky tonk singer, Skeets McDonald is chiefly remembered for his 1953 hit Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes. Over an 18-year recording career from 1949 to 1967, though, he recorded 143 songs. All of them are in this long-overdue complete career retrospective. Taken together, Skeets' output not only shows how country music changed over two decades, but how one man could rise above the trends to make simply great beerhall country music.

Born in Arkansas, Skeets' recording career began in Detroit, cutting risque jukebox hits like The Tattooed Lady and Birthday Cake Boogie. He moved to the west coast in 1951. Signed immediately to Capitol, he helped define Bakersfield-styled country music, recording classics like I'm Hurtin' (later recorded by Nat 'King' Cole) and Looking At The Moon And Wishing On A Star, as well as Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes. He later turned to rockabilly with You Oughta See Grandma Rock and Heartbreakin' Mama (both featuring Eddie Cochran on guitar). His fabulous 1958 Capitol LP, 'Goin' Steady With The Blues' (featuring Buck Owens and Joe Maphis on guitar) is widely acknowledged as one of the great Fifties country albums.

In 1959, Skeets moved to Columbia Records where he recorded Ray Price-styled shuffles for a few years (several of them actually featuring Price on harmony vocals) before scoring another major hit in 1963 with Call Me Mister Brown. The set is rounded out with his last recordings for Uni, made shortly before his death in 1968.

A newly-researched biography by Colin Escott and photos and ephemera from family, friends, and fans complete this long-overdue retrospective of a Post-War country music pioneer... and one of the best pure singers in country music history.

Track Listing

• You Can't Come Back - Polka
• I Can't Take No More (So I Must Say Goodbye)
• My Home In Tennessee
• Make My Dreams Come True
• The Things You Used To Say
• When The Roses Bloom Around Our Cabin Door
• The Southland Boogie
• Mean And Evil Blues
• The Tattooed Lady
• Birthday Cake Boogie
• Sentimental Fool
• Baby When You're Around
• Please Daddy Don't Go To War
• So I Cried Myself To Sleep
• Goodbye Blues
• Only One Love In Each Heart
• Scoot, Git And Be Gone
• Bless Your Little Ol' Heart (You're Mine)
• Today I'm Movin' Out
• Blues Is Bad News
• Fuss And Fight
• Baby Brown Eyes
• I'm Hurtin'
• Ridin' With The Blues
• Big Family Trouble
• Tell Me Why
• Be My Life's Companion
• The Love That Hurt Me So

• Heartbreaking One
• Wheel Of Fortune
• Please Come Back
• You Made Me Cry
• Curtain Of Tears
• I'm Sorry To Say I'm Sorry
• Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes
• A Losing Hand
• I've Got To Win Your Love Again
• Let Me Know
• I Can't Last Long
• Baby, I'm Lost Without You
• Hi Diddle Dee (My Way)(& HELEN O'CONNELL)
• Worried Mind (& HELEN O'CONNELL)
• Walking On Teardrops
• It's Your Life
• Baby, I'm Countin'
• Look Who's Cryin' Now
• I Need Your Love
• Looking At The Moon And Wishing On A Star
• We're Lovin' And Livin'
• Oh How It Hurts
• Remember You're Mine
• Your Love Is Like A Faucet
• You Talk About Me, I'll Talk About You
• I Love You, I Love You, I Love You
• I Love You, Mama Mia
• Smoke Comes Out My Chimney Just The Same
• Each Time A New Love Dies
• But I Do

• Number One In Your Heart
• You're Too Late
• I Can't Stand It Any Longer
• I Got A New Field To Plow
• Your Sweet Love Is Gone
• Strollin'
• You Turned Me Down
• It'll Take Me A Long, Long Time
• Don't Push Me Too Far
• Fallen Angel (Are You Sorry')
• Somebody
• You Oughta See Grandma Rock
• Heart-Breakin' Mama
• You Gotta Be My Baby
• You Better Not Go
• I Am Music
• Welcome Home
• I Can't Hold A Memory In My Arms
• Keep Her Off Your Mind
• Fingertips
• Love Wind
• I'll Make Believe
• The Echo Of Your Footsteps
• The All American Boy
• Let's Spend Some Time With Me

• Fort Worth Jail
• Hawaiian Sea Breaze
• Blues In My Mind
• Yard And A Half Of Blues
• Goin' Steady With The Blues
• I'll Sail My Ship Alone
• Gone And Left Me Blues
• Lost Highway
• My Room Is Crowded
• You're There
• Tomorrow Never Comes
• I'm Sorry Now
• What A Lonesome Life It's Been
• Baby Wait
• What Am I Doing Here
• What I Know About Her
• Gotta Get You From That Crowd
• Where You Go (I'll Follow)
• Cheek To Cheek With The Blues
• Everglades
• Make Room For The Blues
• This Old Heart
• He'll Let You Live A Little
• You're Not Wicked, You're Just Weak
• Same Old Town
• What A Fool I Was
• I Write You Letters
• You Warned Me
• In The Corner Of My Mind
• Fast Company

• This Old Broken Heart
• Call Me Mr. Brown
• I've Gotta Show You
• Dear John (I've Sent Your Saddle Home)
• Chin Up - Chest Out
• I'd Hate To Be Him
• Think Of Me
• Too Many Times (Away From You)
• Mrs. Right's Divorcing Mr. Wrong
• Down In Mexico
• Teardrop Inn
• Me And My Heart And My Shoes
• Tell Me A Lie
• Big Chief Buffalo Nickel (Desert Blues)
• A Member Of The Blues
• Molly Brown
• There Sits An Angel
• Day Sleeper
• She's Never Gone That Route Before
• Mabel
• Too Much Of Me (Walked Away With You)
• The Police Files
• Your Uncertain Mind
• It's Genuine
• Old Indian's Never Die
• You Can't Keep A Good Man Down
• Talk Of The Town (Hush Hush)

Additional Details

Label: Bear Family Records

Genre: Country

Run Time: 360 mins

Release Date: 01/02/07

UPC: 4000127159373