Country Music Hall of Fame

Country Music Hall Of Fame (Series), Sons Of The Pioneers | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 28, 1991)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Mca Nashville
• ASIN: B000002OEQ
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #123,415 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Sons of the Pioneers set the standard for cowboy music that remains in place more than a half-century after their heyday. The group (which Roy Rogers helped form) combined vocal and instrumental expertise with a sure-shootin' flair for finding matchless material, whether that meant adopting a traditional tune such as "Rye Whiskey" or generating original compositions. Early member Bob Nolan penned "Way Out West," which helped launch the outfit in the early '30s. It's on this sterling 16-song greatest-hits collection along with the enchanting "Hills of Old Wyomin'" and, of course, "Tumbling Tumbleweeds." Now that's white-hat Western music! Indeed, there may not be a better CD for finding out how the West was won ... with song. --Steven Stolder

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Real McCoy, February 11, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Country Music Hall of Fame (Audio CD)

This is, to me at least, the definitive "desert island" recording of the Sons of the Pioneers. Every track is good, their greatest songs are included, the CD is amply filled, and the sound is old ("authentic") without being unpleasant. Owning both the Hall of Fame disc and the Columbia Historic Edition provides a very good representation of this piece of Americana. If you want only one disc, this is it.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars NOT JUST NOSTALGIA, April 8, 2001

By 

MOVIE MAVEN (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Country Music Hall of Fame (Audio CD)

I found this CD hidden away in my car's glove compartment and pushed it into the CD player, thinking I'd get a nostalgic laugh. After all, when I was a kid, watching Roy Rogers movies on Saturday afternoons at the Fox or Oritani in Hackensack, it would be these same Sons of the Pioneers who backed Roy up, singing and playing their hearts out. The song over, Roy would disappear with Dale to apprehend a criminal or two and the Sons would just disappear til the next music cue.

It surprised me how moving these songs and their performances really are. They are, for the most part, slow, sad songs about a very difficult life in the West: old age, loneliness and death are more than occasional subjects.

First rate singers, the Pioneers are also wonderful instrumentalists, with arrangements that, at times, shockingly resemble those of Stephane Grappelli.

The sound, unfortunately, on this CD is sub-standard. There are songs that actually sound as if they were recorded in someone's bathroom. But almost all is forgiven when the Pioneers harmonize on a tune as lovely as Bob Nolan's "Cool Water."

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent songs-very well performed, June 2, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Country Music Hall of Fame (Audio CD)

I really enjoyed listening to the western music of the forties and fifties. The Sons of the Pioneers are a favorite group of mine for the last 45 years.