Tombstone Every Mile [Box set]

Gordon Terry, Dick Curless | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 19, 1996)
• Original Release Date: February 22, 1996
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Bear Family
• ASIN: B000001B3R
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #832,895 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

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Editorial Reviews

For a man who was regarded as a cult artist for most of his career, Dick Curless was certainly able to surround himself with the cream of the crop when it came to producers and sidemen, among whom are listed Buck Owens, Tommy Collins, James Burton, Ralph Mooney, Harold Bradley, Pete Drake, David Duke (not that one), and a slew of others. Tombstone Every Mile, the name of Curless' first bona fide hit in 1964, is a Bear Family collection that compiles 191 tracks over seven CDs. It is an exhaustive collection of everything Curless recorded for Tower, Event, Alagash, Standard, and Tiffany from 1950 through 1969. He signed with Capitol in 1970, and there's another box covering that period. Curless recorded until finishing his last album literally days before his death in 1995. While this set documents the singer/songwriter's first forays into Ernest Tubb-style honky tonk, it spends a great deal of time displaying his roots in the Bakersfield sound pioneered by Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and others and his transition into making "truck driver's music" -- mostly because his cult was made of truckers, not because he wrote for them exclusively. Virtually every kind of country music is documented here, from honky tonk barnburners to gospel tunes to love ballads to novelty tunes to cowboy songs and classic ballads. There are train songs and pain songs, truck songs and mama songs. His readings of tunes by Lefty Frizzell, Red Simpson, Merle Travis, Don Gibson, Billy Mize, Buck Owens, Johnny Cash, Haggard, Collins, public domain tunes such as "Streets of Laredo," and his own early efforts established him as a great stylist and singer as well as a keen interpreter -- his version of Cash's "I Walk the Line" is only eclipsed by the master's. Curless' repertoire covered the entire history of the music as it came down from the Carter Family. There are over a dozen complementary unreleased masters here, making this a must for the country collector, and to have the material organized in such painstaking chronologically recorded fashion adds depth and dimension to Curless' development as an artist. Ultimately, if you are at all a fan, this set and his final album, Traveling Through on the Rounder label, are the things to have. The Capitol period is good, it's just not revelatory like this stuff is. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Memories, April 14, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (A Misplaced MAINIAC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tombstone Every Mile (Audio CD)

I first met Dick while he was a reuglar entertainer at the Thorndike Hotel, in Rockland, ME in 1963. I had been a fan ever since I first saw him on WMTV in the late 50's, before the Godfrey Show. I own eight of his LP's and was disappointed with the quality when I tried to tape them. I couldn't resist the box set, and I'm happy I didn't!!! I listened to the full set the night I got them; I laughed and I got misty. His covers of Tex Ritter's songs are great. "Coast of Maine" and "You Never Miss The Water" were the songs that he opened and closed his shows with. Goosebumps! His cover of Roger Miller's "King of the Road" is better that the original, and not only because Dick could pronounce Bangor correctly! Dick truly was as good, if not better, than any of the big stars out there today. Just think what he could have done with a Mel Tellis or Willie Nelson original. Ironiclly, I ordered the set on his birthday, St. Patrick's Day, and I didn't realize it until I read the discography!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At last Dick curless got his box., December 21, 2004

By 

S. A. Vikesdal "S.A.Vikesdal." (Vikesaa, Bjerkreim Norway) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tombstone Every Mile (Audio CD)

This cdbox is incredible,a stunner.

And an whole cd with unreleased/rare recordings from mid 50`s Korean war to rare radio programs from USA.An incredible soundquality that only Bear Family Records can do.

Buy this box and the other Dick Curless box.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the greatest I have. An all day listen. give me more., October 11, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tombstone Every Mile (Audio CD)

I have been a Dick Curless fan for many years. In my opimion he is the best entertainer ever. I also enjoy the book. I'm so glad this is available. It is a certain,"must" for a Dick Curless fan.I garantee you will be after you hear this.