16 Down Home Country Classics CD

This is in effect a sampler of Arhoolie's country-related catalog, with cuts from sixteen different releases. It 's country of the old-timey and early honky-tonk flavor, not of the produced country-pop sort, though that's not a drawback. Highlights include the Maddox Brothers & Rose's raucous "George's Playhouse Boogie," the Carter Family's "Hello Stranger" (from a 1939 radio broadcast), the Strange Creek Singers' "No Never No" (with Alice Gerrard and Hazel Dickens duetting on vocals), and Toni Brown's "You Turned Your Back," a lost modern hillbilly classic of sorts (and also the rarest cut, previously issued on an Arhoolie 45 single). Otherwise, this may be too old-timey/Appalachian in nature for those with modern country tastes, including selections by Del McCoury, J.E Mainer, the Any Old Time String Band, and many others. ~ Richie Unterberger