The Essential Gene Autry (1933-1946)
More vividly than anyone else, Gene Autry captured the romantic paradox of the Old West: a wide-open independence and excitement laced with periods of deep loneliness and depression. "Back in the Saddle Again," "Deep in the Heart of Texas," and "Jingle, Jangle, Jingle" are jubilant celebrations of life on the trail. "Tumblin' Tumbleweeds" and "Take Me Back to My Boots and Saddle" are plaintive reflections about the lure of the frontier. "Mexicali Rose" and "The Call of the Canyon" long for the women he's left behind. "The Last Round-Up" offers the somber words of a cowboy on his deathbed. This wonderful 18-song collection trots from Autry's early Jimmie Rodgers-inspired yodels to his warm-voiced pop ballads, and serves as a definitive single-CD overview of the ultimate "Singing Cowboy."--Marc Greilsamer