Country & Western Hitparade - CD-Album-Series by Bear Family

COUNTRY & WESTERN HIT PARADE

“Collecting an anarchic mix of sex and sentimentality, earnest paeans to family and fanciful tales of drinking and cheating, DIM LIGHTS… affords a fascinating glimpse into black-and-white ‘50s polemics… Established stars, inspired wannabes proffer an intoxicating brew of dancefloor honky tonk, hillbilly boogie, bluegrass, western swing, incipient rockabilly, goofball novelty, and sentimental country-pop.” (UNCUT magazine)

DIM LIGHTS, THICK SMOKE, AND HILLBILLY MUSIC

COUNTRY & WESTERN HIT PARADEThe reviews are in and everyone from Australia to Los Angeles to London is raving about Bear Family’s definitive year-by-year country series. Starting in 1945, DIM LIGHTS, THICK SMOKE, AND HILLBILLY MUSIC (COUNTRY & WESTERN HIT PARADE) tells the real story of country music record-by-record. The hits are here, but so are groundbreaking records that went nowhere at the time. This is the true and uncensored history of country music. Everything you need to hear, year-by-year. Stars like Hank Williams, Bob Wills, Eddy Arnold, Ray Price, and Hank Snow are here. But so are beerhall legends like Eddie Noack and Sonny Burns.

And roots music mavens like Charlie Feathers and the Stanley Brothers, as well as overlooked giants like Carl Belew and Floyd Tillman. You’ll also hear the incredible original versions of songs like Duelin’ Banjos, Release Me, Lonely Street, and many more! Every CD is full to the brim with great music, and they’re all individually packaged in hardcover 72-page books by Colin Escott.

That tell the story of every song as well as the broader music history of the time. Fabulous photos, original record labels, and period advertisements round out the packages. Bear Family began its journey into year-by-year anthologies with its groundbreaking and award-winning BLOWIN’ THE FUSE & SWEET SOUL MUSIC series that tells the story of R&B from 1945-1970. Look for the series to continue into the Funk era. 

Aa year-by-year Rock'n'Roll anthology

  • After the volumes covering 1945-1955 were released, the word was out. This series is definitive, fabulously packaged, and faultlessly remastered! Everything you'd expect from Bear Family…and more!
  • Jack Clement, who produced Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Waylon Jennings, Don Williams, and many others, said, "This is the best country series of all time. No doubt. No question." Robert Hilburn in the 'Los Angeles Times' said, "An invaluable album project…enables fans to step back in time and listen to the radio just like Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, and Bob Dylan did."
  • Now the story continues from 1956 until 1960. Every CD is generously full. Every booklet is extensive and chocked full of rare photos and illustrations, as well as complete stories behind the songs!
  • In addition to the hits, the series contains rarities that went on to influence country music…and all music…In the years ahead, like Wanda Jackson's original version of Silver Threads And Golden Needles, Carl Belew's original Lonely Street, and Chet Atkins' influential Walk, Don't Run.
  • This series is designed to introduce new listeners to the very best that country music has to offer… while keeping longtime fans entertained. Every volume is a fabulous time capsule.

Here's the story.

COUNTRY & WESTERN HIT PARADEFor many years, we'd received requests to do a truly definitive country series, but it wasn't until the success of our year-by-year R&B/Soul series, 'Blowin' The Fuse' (now 'Sweet Soul Music' and soon to be continued into the Funk era) that we decided we needed to do something comparable for country music. The first volumes of 'Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music' took us from 1945-1955, and now the story continues into the era of the Nashville Sound.

The series has been compiled with today's fans in mind. Sure, the big hits are there, but so are the classic performances that weren't necessarily hits at the time, but became influential in the years ahead. Every volume has incredibly detailed behind-the-scenes stories. Fabulously rare photos, and an ongoing history of country music set against the backdrop of the broader American music business. The booklets alone are 72 pages! Definitive? You bet!

Superlatives are often overused, but we feel that this series is part of our mission to bring this incredible music to new fans ... As well as entertaining older fans. We pick up the story in 1956... Just as country music was coming to terms with the upset of rock 'n' roll!

COUNTRY & WESTERN HIT PARADE “Collecting an anarchic mix of sex and sentimentality, earnest paeans to family and fanciful tales of drinking and cheating, DIM LIGHTS… affords a... read more »
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Country & Western Hitparade - CD-Album-Series by Bear Family

COUNTRY & WESTERN HIT PARADE

“Collecting an anarchic mix of sex and sentimentality, earnest paeans to family and fanciful tales of drinking and cheating, DIM LIGHTS… affords a fascinating glimpse into black-and-white ‘50s polemics… Established stars, inspired wannabes proffer an intoxicating brew of dancefloor honky tonk, hillbilly boogie, bluegrass, western swing, incipient rockabilly, goofball novelty, and sentimental country-pop.” (UNCUT magazine)

DIM LIGHTS, THICK SMOKE, AND HILLBILLY MUSIC

COUNTRY & WESTERN HIT PARADEThe reviews are in and everyone from Australia to Los Angeles to London is raving about Bear Family’s definitive year-by-year country series. Starting in 1945, DIM LIGHTS, THICK SMOKE, AND HILLBILLY MUSIC (COUNTRY & WESTERN HIT PARADE) tells the real story of country music record-by-record. The hits are here, but so are groundbreaking records that went nowhere at the time. This is the true and uncensored history of country music. Everything you need to hear, year-by-year. Stars like Hank Williams, Bob Wills, Eddy Arnold, Ray Price, and Hank Snow are here. But so are beerhall legends like Eddie Noack and Sonny Burns.

And roots music mavens like Charlie Feathers and the Stanley Brothers, as well as overlooked giants like Carl Belew and Floyd Tillman. You’ll also hear the incredible original versions of songs like Duelin’ Banjos, Release Me, Lonely Street, and many more! Every CD is full to the brim with great music, and they’re all individually packaged in hardcover 72-page books by Colin Escott.

That tell the story of every song as well as the broader music history of the time. Fabulous photos, original record labels, and period advertisements round out the packages. Bear Family began its journey into year-by-year anthologies with its groundbreaking and award-winning BLOWIN’ THE FUSE & SWEET SOUL MUSIC series that tells the story of R&B from 1945-1970. Look for the series to continue into the Funk era. 

Aa year-by-year Rock'n'Roll anthology

  • After the volumes covering 1945-1955 were released, the word was out. This series is definitive, fabulously packaged, and faultlessly remastered! Everything you'd expect from Bear Family…and more!
  • Jack Clement, who produced Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Waylon Jennings, Don Williams, and many others, said, "This is the best country series of all time. No doubt. No question." Robert Hilburn in the 'Los Angeles Times' said, "An invaluable album project…enables fans to step back in time and listen to the radio just like Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, and Bob Dylan did."
  • Now the story continues from 1956 until 1960. Every CD is generously full. Every booklet is extensive and chocked full of rare photos and illustrations, as well as complete stories behind the songs!
  • In addition to the hits, the series contains rarities that went on to influence country music…and all music…In the years ahead, like Wanda Jackson's original version of Silver Threads And Golden Needles, Carl Belew's original Lonely Street, and Chet Atkins' influential Walk, Don't Run.
  • This series is designed to introduce new listeners to the very best that country music has to offer… while keeping longtime fans entertained. Every volume is a fabulous time capsule.

Here's the story.

COUNTRY & WESTERN HIT PARADEFor many years, we'd received requests to do a truly definitive country series, but it wasn't until the success of our year-by-year R&B/Soul series, 'Blowin' The Fuse' (now 'Sweet Soul Music' and soon to be continued into the Funk era) that we decided we needed to do something comparable for country music. The first volumes of 'Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music' took us from 1945-1955, and now the story continues into the era of the Nashville Sound.

The series has been compiled with today's fans in mind. Sure, the big hits are there, but so are the classic performances that weren't necessarily hits at the time, but became influential in the years ahead. Every volume has incredibly detailed behind-the-scenes stories. Fabulously rare photos, and an ongoing history of country music set against the backdrop of the broader American music business. The booklets alone are 72 pages! Definitive? You bet!

Superlatives are often overused, but we feel that this series is part of our mission to bring this incredible music to new fans ... As well as entertaining older fans. We pick up the story in 1956... Just as country music was coming to terms with the upset of rock 'n' roll!

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1956 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music
Various - Country & Western Hit Parade: 1956 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music Art-Nr.: BCD16961

Ready to ship today, delivery time** appr. 1-3 workdays

1-CD-Album deluxe album with 72-page booklet, 30 tracks. Playing time: 78:14 minutes. It was the year that the floodgates opened. Inside and outside the music business, rock 'n' roll was on everyone's mind. The trade papers didn't know...
$16.92 $19.18
1965 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music
Various - Country & Western Hit Parade: 1965 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music Art-Nr.: BCD16970

Ready to ship today, delivery time** appr. 1-3 workdays

1-CD-Album deluxe with 72-page booklet, 31 tracks. Playing time approx. 79 mns. As the simmering political divide between the South and Everywhere Else became more apparent, it was inevitably reflected in music. Anti-Civil Rights songs...
$16.92 $19.18
1967 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music
Various - Country & Western Hit Parade: 1967 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music Art-Nr.: BCD17262

Item has to be restocked

1-CD Deluxe album with 72-page booklet, 31 tracks. Total playing time approx. 84 mns. It was the year that thousands of kids obeyed the invocation to go to San Francisco and wear some flowers in their hair. Civil unrest spread like a...
$16.92 $19.18
1968 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music
Various - Country & Western Hit Parade: 1968 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music Art-Nr.: BCD17263

Ready to ship today, delivery time** appr. 1-3 workdays

1-CD Deluxe album with 72-page booklet, 31 tracks. Total playing time approx. 86 mns. In 1965, Bill C. Malone published his doctoral dissertation on country music, and in 1968 it became widely available as Country Music U.S.A. Published...
$16.92 $19.18
1969 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music
Various - Country & Western Hit Parade: 1969 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music Art-Nr.: BCD17264

Ready to ship today, delivery time** appr. 1-3 workdays

1-CD Deluxe album with 72-page booklet, 28 tracks. Total playing time approx. 87 mns. On January 20, 1969, Richard Nixon became the thirty-seventh President of the United States. Later that year, he adopted the phrase silent majority to...
$16.92 $19.18
1970 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music
Various - Country & Western Hit Parade: 1970 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music Art-Nr.: BCD17265

Ready to ship today, delivery time** appr. 1-3 workdays

1-CD Deluxe album with 72-page booklet, 28 tracks. Total playing time approx. 86 mns. Our quarter-century retrospective ends here. In country music, as in the broader recording industry, change had been profound. In 1945, the only...
$16.92 $19.18
1966 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music
Various - Country & Western Hit Parade: 1966 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music Art-Nr.: BCD17261

Ready to ship today, delivery time** appr. 1-3 workdays

1-CD Deluxe album with 72-page booklet, 31 tracks. Total playing time approx. 83 mns. As far back as the mid-1940s, 'Billboard' magazine had polled dee-jays, including country dee-jays, to tabulate the year's top records, labels,...
$16.92 $19.18
1961 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music
Various - Country & Western Hit Parade: 1961 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music Art-Nr.: BCD16966

Item has to be restocked

1-CD-Album deluxe with 72-page booklet, 31 tracks. Playing time approx. 80 mns. 'Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music 1961' Country & Western Hit Parade 1961 It was the year that the first inductions were made into the as-yet...
$16.92 $19.18
1963 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music
Various - Country & Western Hit Parade: 1963 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music Art-Nr.: BCD16968

Ready to ship today, delivery time** appr. 1-3 workdays

1-CD-Album deluxe with 72-page booklet, 32 tracks. Playing time approx. 84 mns. In country music history, 1963 goes down as the year of losses. At 2:00pm on Tuesday March 5, a Piper Comanche light airplane left Kansas City for Nashville....
$16.92 $19.18
1964 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music (CD)
Various - Country & Western Hit Parade: 1964 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly... Art-Nr.: BCD16969

Ready to ship today, delivery time** appr. 1-3 workdays

1-CD-Album deluxe with 72-page booklet, 31 tracks. Playing time approx. 81 mns. Just as the folk boom triggered by Tom Dooley had exerted a brief impact upon country music in 1959, so contemporary folk music began to exert an influence...
$16.92 $19.18
1962 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music
Various - Country & Western Hit Parade: 1962 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music Art-Nr.: BCD16967

Ready to ship today, delivery time** appr. 1-3 workdays

1-CD-Album deluxe with 72-page booklet, 31 tracks. Playing time approx. 82 mns. Nineteen-sixty-two was the year of Don Law. The forgotten pioneer of the Nashville Sound, Law was—statistically at least—more successful than Chet Atkins or...
$16.92 $19.18
1957 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music
Various - Country & Western Hit Parade: 1957 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music Art-Nr.: BCD16962

Ready to ship today, delivery time** appr. 1-3 workdays

1-CD-Album deluxe with 72-page booklet, 29 tracks. Playing time: 76:22 minutes. This was the year that the Nashville Sound was born, Music City's fightback to rock 'n' roll with strings and vocal choruses, providing a pop market appeal,...
$16.92 $19.18
1958 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music
Various - Country & Western Hit Parade: 1958 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music Art-Nr.: BCD16963

Ready to ship today, delivery time** appr. 1-3 workdays

1-CD-Album deluxe with 72-page booklet, 30 tracks. Playing time: 74:10 minutes. Wesley Rose's 1956 prophecy about rock 'n' roll killing country was ringing true and the music was at its lowest ebb.  ,Nevertheless it couldn't be...
$16.92 $19.18
1959 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music
Various - Country & Western Hit Parade: 1959 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music Art-Nr.: BCD16964

Ready to ship today, delivery time** appr. 1-3 workdays

1-CD-Album deluxe with 72-page booklet, 32 tracks. Playing time: 84:48 minutes. The big hit of the year was the Kingston Trio's Tom Dooley and the words "folk music" swept the industry. It reached country music and story songs, with a...
$16.92 $19.18
1960 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music
Various - Country & Western Hit Parade: 1960 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music Art-Nr.: BCD16965

Ready to ship today, delivery time** appr. 1-3 workdays

1-CD-Album deluxe with 72-page booklet, 32 tracks. Playing time: 82:43 minutes. By 1960 the folk boom of the previous year had died. Nashville, for the greater part, continued to produce records with "crossover" appeal that would provide...
$16.92 $19.18
1953 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music
Various - Country & Western Hit Parade: 1953 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music Art-Nr.: BCD16958

Ready to ship today, delivery time** appr. 1-3 workdays

1-CD-Album deluxe with 72-page booklet, 28 tracks, playing time: 75:06 minutes. One event towered over 1953, and it happened between midnight and dawn on January 1. Somewhere in West Virginia Hank Williams died in the back seat of his...
$16.92 $19.18
1954 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music
Various - Country & Western Hit Parade: 1954 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music Art-Nr.: BCD16959

Ready to ship today, delivery time** appr. 1-3 workdays

1-CD-Album deluxe with 72-page booklet, 28 tracks; playing time: 74:03 minutes. 'Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music 1954' Country & Western Hit Parade 1954 Something was happening. In 1953, Bill Haley had cracked the pop charts...
$16.92 $19.18
1951 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music
Various - Country & Western Hit Parade: 1951 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music Art-Nr.: BCD16956

the very last 1 available
Ready to ship today, delivery time** appr. 1-3 workdays

1-CD-Album deluxe with 72-page booklet, 29 tracks, playing time: 79:57 minutes. Nineteen-fifty-one was the year that pop discovered country music. Many of the top pop songs of the year (Cold, Cold Heart, Beautiful Brown Eyes, The Shot...
$19.18
1952 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music
Various - Country & Western Hit Parade: 1952 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music Art-Nr.: BCD16957

This article is deleted and can no longer be ordered!

1-CD-Album deluxe with 72-page booklet, 26 tracks, playing time: 68:42 minutes. The burgeoning interest in country music manifested itself in many ways. Pop A&R men scoured the hillbilly releases for songs they could cover. Twelve...
$16.92 $19.18
1955 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music
Various - Country & Western Hit Parade: 1955 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music Art-Nr.: BCD16960

This article is deleted and can no longer be ordered!

1-CD-Album deluxe with 72-page booklet, 31 tracks, playing time: 80:29 minutes. It was the year everything began to change. When the music merchants gathered for their annual convention in July 1955, one of the keynote speakers remarked...
$16.92 $19.18
1945 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music
Various - Country & Western Hit Parade: 1945 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music Art-Nr.: BCD16950

Ready to ship today, delivery time** appr. 1-3 workdays

1-CD deluxe album with 72-page booklet, 27 tracks. Playing time approx. 77 mns. It was a cataclysmic year. As 1945 dawned, the Second World War was still ongoing in Europe and Asia, yet by year's end, it was over. Many musicians were in...
$16.92 $19.18
1946 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music
Various - Country & Western Hit Parade: 1946 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music Art-Nr.: BCD16951

This article is deleted and can no longer be ordered!

1-CD deluxe album with 72-page booklet, 28 tracks. Playing time approx. 77 mns. The year that the floodgates opened, rock 'n' roll was on everyone's mind and there were more million sellers than ever before. As Elvis Presley had been...
$16.92 $19.18
1947 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music
Various - Country & Western Hit Parade: 1947 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music Art-Nr.: BCD16952

This article is deleted and can no longer be ordered!

1-CD deluxe album with 72-page booklet, 27 tracks. Playing time approx. 74 mns. After many, many requests, we're finally doing a definitive year-by-year country series! And it won't stop when the music is in copyright, either! The most...
$16.92 $19.18
1948 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music
Various - Country & Western Hit Parade: 1948 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music Art-Nr.: BCD16953

This article is deleted and can no longer be ordered!

1-CD deluxe album with 72-page booklet, 28 tracks. Playing time approx. 78 mns. After many, many requests, we're finally doing a definitive year-by-year country series! And it won't stop when the music is in copyright, either! The most...
$16.92 $19.18
1949 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music
Various - Country & Western Hit Parade: 1949 - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music Art-Nr.: BCD16954

This article is deleted and can no longer be ordered!

1-CD deluxe album with 72-page booklet, 28 tracks. Playing time approx. 77 mns. After many, many requests, we're finally doing a definitive year-by-year country series! And it won't stop when the music is in copyright, either! The most...
$16.92 $19.18
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