Rusty Draper - Collection 1939-62 (CD)

Rusty Draper was a country singer and guitarist who began his career in playing on country radio shows in the mid-West before becoming a radio announcer during the 1940s and finding a niche as a nightclub singer in California in the early '50s when he made his first television appearances, leading to a recording contract with Mercury as he made the transition into pure pop music, although he always retained some country roots. This excellent-value 60-track 2-CD set contains some examples of his early country recordings on different labels and under different names - with The Sons Of The Ozarks for Bluebird, as Rusty Draper & The Dreamers for Coast, and with Ozark Red for Cavalier, but mainly comprises selected A & B sides from his releases for Mercury over the first decade or so with the label, which represented the core of his chart career. It features his thirteen pop, country and UK chart entries from these years, including the Top 10 pop hits "No Help Wanted", "Gambler's Guitar", "The Shifting, Whispering Sands", and "Freight Train". It includes collaborations with Patti Page, Lola Dee and Ralph Marterie. It's a substantial selection of his work, which provides an excellent showcase for his extrovert vocal style.

Track List:

Disc: 1

1. My Sweet Irene from Illinois
2. I Must Have All or Nothing
3. Red's Boogie
4. Just Because
5. Devil of a Woman
6. Sing, Baby, Sing
7. Wedding Bells
8. Angry
9. No Help Wanted
10. Texarkana Baby
11. Big Mamou
12. Gambler's Guitar
13. A Free Home Demonstration
14. Lazy River
15. I Love to Jump
16. Lonesome Song
17. Easter Morning
18. Train with the Rumba Beat
19. Knock on Wood
20. The Workshop of the Lord
21. The Magic Circle
22. Muskrat Ramble
23. The Ballad of Davy Crockett
24. Eating Goober Peas
25. Seventeen
26. I Can't Live Without Them Anymore
27. The Shifting, Whispering Sands
28. Time
29. Wabash Cannon Ball

Disc: 2

1. Are You Satisfied
2. Held for Questioning
3. The Gun of Billy the Kid
4. Rock and Roll Ruby
5. In the Middle of the House
6. Pink Cadillac
7. Behind Those Swingin' Doors
8. Giant
9. Confidential
10. Tiger Lily
11. Let's Go Calypso
12. Should I Ever Love Again
13. Freight Train
14. Seven Come Eleven
15. Good Golly Pretty Molly
16. I Get the Blues When It Rains
17. Gamblin' Gal
18. June, July and August
19. Shoppin' Around
20. Hey LI Lee LI Lee LI
21. Don't Forget Your Shoes
22. All for the Love of Flo
23. That Lucky Old Sun
24. Mule Skinner Blues
25. Please Help Me I'm Falling
26. It's a Little More Like Heaven
27. Jealous Heart
28. Another
29. Signed, Sealed and Delivered
30. When I've Learned
31. Beggar to a King