Bear Family, the respected reissue label from Germany, continues its deep mine of the Carter Family archives with this issue by A.P. and Sara Carter's youngest daughter, Janette. Along with older brother Joe, she runs the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, VA, in the shadow of Clinch Mountain. Janette and her brother are the caretakers of the family legacy. The 31 cuts on this set contain two complete albums, Storms Are on the Ocean, originally recorded in 1972 for the tiny Birch Records label from Willamette, IL, and 1973's Howdayadoo, released on the Crosby, TN, Traditional imprint. The rest include A.P.'s "Storms Are on the Ocean," recorded for Blue Jay in 1968, a pair of live cuts issued on a Traditional collection, and two tracks from 2001, including the original "Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore." The remastering is excellent and the material is simply fantastic. It's a mix of Carter songs and traditional folk tunes that the Carters either did record or would have been comfortable doing so. Janette accompanies herself on autoharp on all these tracks, and has a minimal host of players -- mostly uncredited -- on others. The running time is 73 minutes and change, and the entire thing is deeply moving, plaintive, and full of emotion as well as history. Highly recommended. ~ Thom Jurek

According to Billboard magazine, Eddy Arnold--not Hank Williams, not George Jones, not Merle Haggard, and not even Garth Brooks-is the top country artist of the modern era. During his lengthy career, Arnold placed 92 (!) singles in country music's Top Ten. Interestingly, though, Arnold today receives short shrift not only from contemporary country fans but also from aficionados of the genre's classic age. Like his contemporaries and fellow giants Marty Robbins and Jim Reeves, Arnold sings too prettily to suit today's styles, which favor the Hank Williams' mournful wail and George Jones' boozy melisma. Fortunately, German archivists Bear Family Records never let current tastes dictate its output. The label has instead graced the world with this meticulously packaged reissue of two classic Arnold albums-presented in the "modern way" (Arnold's words) that so offends today's purists. Arnold touches all the bases here, trotting out many cowboy and folk standards: "The Streets of Laredo," "Tumbling Tumbleweed," "Tom Dooley," and 22 others nearly as familiar. Grungy urban cowboy-wannabes who scoff need to be reminded that real cowboys--and plenty of others who made up country's audience during its classic period--ate this stuff up.