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.

During the early '50s, while Bill Monroe and Flatt and Scruggs slugged it out atop the bluegrass mountain, brothers Jim and Jesse McReynolds quietly established themselves as one of the genre's finest and most durable outfits. Early on, the duo established a successful sound centred on their letter-perfect harmony singing, winningly melodic songwriting, and Jesse's unmistakable cross-picking mandolin style. Their earliest recordings--anthologised on 1952-1955--reveal just how fully developed the group's sound was by the time they gained public attention. Not that the group's rise was either easy or inevitable. After trudging away on small-time radio programs for years, Jim & Jesse caught their big break signing with Capitol Records in 1952. Soon after, however, Jesse was drafted to serve in the Korean War, putting the act's nascent recording career on a two-year hiatus. 1952-1955 includes five early Capitol sessions, including a pre-induction marathon that ensured Jim & Jesse releases during Jesse's military run. Despite these setbacks, quality ultimately won out: Jesse came home and the group resumed a 40+ year career that justly earned them legendary status. To find out why audiences eagerly awaited Jesse's return, check out 1952-1955.