1-CD with 20-page booklet, 27 tracks. Playing time approx. 80 mns

Wally Whyton was a multi-talented entertainer. During the past three decades of his life he'll be best rememered as a broadcaster, first co-hosting (with Jim Lloyd) the groundbreaking 'Country Meets Folk' programs and later, as the 'voice' of country music on the BBC as the presenter of the long running weekly 'Country Club'.

He started out as a singer and songwriter, first catching the public eye in the 1950s as the founder of The Vipers, one of the leading contributors to the shortlived skiffle movement. Then, in the 1960s, alongside a blossoming broadcasting career on both radio and television (the latter as the power behind those beloved puppets 'Ollie Beak' and 'Pussycat Willum'), he established himself as a major figure on the British folk music scene - with his reputation stretching into Europe and places much further afield. In the option of many critics he was an excellent, if underrated, songwriter, though with his original song Leave Them A Flower he assured his place in musical history books as it received international publicity as a conservation anthem. Indeed it was among the first - if not the first - of the conservation songs ever written.

Here are two incredibly rare Fontana albums from the Sixties. They're not kiddies albums and they're not skiffle; they're classic folk music - some original, some borrowed, all delivered with Wally Whyton's inimitable panache.

Backing musicians include Danny Thompson, Jon Mark, and Terry Cox, and the 27 songs include Don't Send My Mother To Prison, Kentish Town Blues, The Auction, This Is The Life, The Rich And The Poor, Bound For Borstal, Gentle On My Mind, Greenback Dollar, 1913 Massacre, and Tomorrow Is A Long Time.

Track Listing

• Leave Them A Flower
• This Is The Life
• Kentish Town
• The Rich And The Poor
• Happy Jack
• The Auction
• It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
• Banks Of Marble
• Steel Rail Blues
• Liza Jane
• Mama, Let Me Out It On You
• Bound For Borstal
• The Last Thing On My Mind
• Gentle On My Mind
• Ballad Of The Bo Weevil
• Don't Send My Mother To Prison
• Little Red Hen
• Tomorrow Is A Long Time
• The Urge For Going
• 1913 Massacre
• San Francisco Bay Blues
• Greenback Dollar
• When Winter Comes
• 900 Miles From Home
• Underground Train
• Leaving On A Jet Plane
• Selma, Alabama (April, 1965)

Additional Details

Label: Bear Family Records

Genre: Folk

Run Time: 80 mins

Release Date: 01/02/07

UPC: 4000127161581