Customer Reviews

Honky Tonk Heroine: Classic Capitol Recordings, 1952-1964

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Jean Shepard's career as a country singer was often diminished by the long shadow cast by her peers, Kitty Wells and Patsy Cline. She proves to be thier equal in this 12 year retrospective of her early recordings. In the early 1950s,when women singers in country music were denegraded as "fern thrushes", Jean Shepard's music was a breakthrough, exploring near-taboo topic of marital infidelty. Her sweet, but full bodied alto voice counterpointed her tough minded song lyrics. This collection features Shepard in her finest stipped down traditional form with the amazing steel guitar of Speedy West. Later in her career, Shepard succumbed to producers who drowned her beautiful voice in overblown string arrangements and annoying Mitch Miller type chorus singers. This is the real Jean Shepard, the orginal honky tonk woman.

I've enjoyed seeing Jean Shepard several times at the Grand Ole Opry and have of course seen her on the telecasts. She used to be a regular on TNN's Ralph Emory talk show. As she nears seventy, her voice is as strong and vibrant as ever; she's one of those lucky singers who can just keep going!

Shepard's distinctive accent shines through on all of these recordings. There is an obvious progression in recording quality from the first to the last of this CD, but all the cuts sound clean and showcase her abilities.

This is a voice that will stand out from the crowd fifty years from now, one that you will either love or hate. It's a long way from Faith Hill!

For those who like their country music without rock influence, try this. You'll become a fan like so many of us!

I have this CD and it really does justice for Jean Shepard. The last song "second fiddle to an old guitar" she yodels it is great. Would like to have a cd with more yodeling on it. One of the best cd's and singer's.

In a charted singles career that spanned twenty-six years, Oklahoman Ollie Imogene [Jean] Shepard [married to Hawkshaw Hawkins at the time of his death in that infamous March 5, 1963 plane crash that also took the lives of Patsy Cline and Cowboy Copas], racked up 45 Top 100 Country hits, 31 of which made the Top 40, including two duets with Ferlin Husky and two more with Ray Pillow. That just two of those hits managed to cross over to the Pop charts attests to her pure Country style.

In this mix of singles and LP cuts you get five of her charted singles: A Dear John Letter - # 1 for 8 weeks in 1953 with Husky, which also made it to # 4 Pop on Capitol 2502, due mainly to the song's sentiment and the fact the Korean conflict was in full bloom]; A Satisfied Mind - # 4 in summer 1955 on Capitol 3118; Beautiful Lies - # 4 in fall 1955 on Capitol 3222; I Want To Go Where No One Knows Me - # 18 in December 1958 on Capitol 4068; and Second Fiddle (To An Old Guitar) - # 5 in summer 1964 on Capitol 5169.

The uncharted singles include both sides of her first, Crying Steel Guitar Waltz b/w Twice The Lovin' (In Half The Time on Capitil 2358 in 1952 when just 19 years of age, My Wedding Ring which was the solo flip of A Dear John Letter, Two Whoops And A Holler, Capitol 2791 in 1954, Don't Fall In Love With A Married Man on Capitol 2905 in 1954, He's My Baby on Capitol F-4013 in 1958, How Do I Tell It To A Child on Capitol 4365 in 1960, I've Learned To Live With You (And Be Alone) on Capoitol 4915 in 1963, and That;s What Lonesome Is on Capitol 5062 in 1963.

Albums sides are: Sad Singin' And Slow Ridin' from Capitol T-728 "Songs Of A Love Affair" in 1956; Under Suspicion, The Other Woman and Act Like A Married Man on Capitol T-1253 "This Is Jean Shepard" in Sept 1959; A Thief In The Night from Caoitol T-1126 "Lonesome Love" in Dec 1958; Color Song (I Lost My Love), Under Your Spell Again and One White Rose from Capitol ST-1525 "Got You On My Mind" in Feb 1961; The Root Of All Evil (Is A Man) on Capitol DT-1922 "The Best Of Jean Shepard" in Sept 1963; and Cigarettes And Coffee Blues on Capitol ST-2189 "Lighthearted And Blue" in Oct 1964.

Her first 32 hits were on Capitol, after which she switched to United Artists in 1973 for 12 more, including her first there, Slippin' Away (# 4 Country) which became her second Pop cross-over when it reached # 81 that June. Her final hit came in 1978 for the Scorpion label when The Real Thing peaked at # 85.

A huge Country favourite in the U.K., and a mainstay on the Grand Ole Opry since 1955, it kind of makes one wonder exactly what an artist has to do to get elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame?

This disk was just as I expected, no dissapoitments.