VA - Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music 1947 (2008)

Germany's Bear Family is well known for its stellar box set reissues of country, rock, and rhythm & blues recordings, as well as for single titles by deserving if not necessarily remembered American artists. Their mastering, production, and packaging set the industry standard for excellence. The six-volume Dim Lights, Thick Smoke series was released on CD in December of 2008 and covered the years 1945-1950, a strange and wonderful time in country music history born from of the end of the War Department's restrictions on shellac and the end of the recording ban, all near the end of the second world war. These discs all contain either 27 or 28 tracks, and are lavishly annotated with historical essays and track by track annotation by the esteemed Colin Escott, and contain with photographs of performers and record sleeves where available. The third volume in this series covers the year 1947, and offers a portrait of a year rife with hillbilly boogie classics. The South and the Southwest must have been feeling heady in the post war years, because the music here -- even in the ballads -- reflects a sense of well being, fun, and even hedonism. The set opens with Tex Williams' nugget "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! That Cigarette!" Despite the fact that the Commander Cody version has transplanted it in popular culture memory, it doesn't touch the original for its stellar musicianship, dry-drawl delivery, and knee-slapping humor. It cooks as a transitional piece of Western swing to hillbilly boogie, and it's easy to hear rock & roll's roots in this music. Other harder-driven tunes are Maddox Brothers & Rose's "Milk Cow Boogie," Hank Williams' "Move It on Over," Jack Guthrie's "Oakie Boogie," and Merle Travis' "So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed." That said, there are a number of fine ballads in the set as well, such as Cowboy Copas' "Signed Sealed and Delivered," and Eddy Arnold's "I'll Hold You in My Heart 'Til I Can Hold You in My Arms." Another smoking number is the wild, raw, and outrageous "Keep Them Cold Icy Fingers off of Me," by Fairley Holden. The sound quality here is wonderfully warm, full, and present. This collection adds immeasurably to the series.