Dim Lights, Thick Smoke 1947

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CD - Digi-Pak / Includes book

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Track List
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Dim Lights, Thick Smoke 1947

1LISTENSmoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette) / Tex Williams & the Western Caravan 2:57
2LISTENIt's a Sin / Eddy Arnold & His Tennessee Plowboys 2:28
3LISTENSugar Moon / Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys 2:34
4LISTENCigarettes, Whusky, And Wild, Wild Women / Sons of the Pioneers 2:56
5LISTENCocaine Blues / Billy Hughes 2:36
6LISTENMilk Cow Blues / The Maddox Brothers & Rose 3:11
7LISTENFoggy River / Moon Mullican & the Showboys 2:51
8LISTENI'll Step Aside / Ernest Tubb 2:42
9LISTENBlue Eyes Crying in the Rain / Roy Acuff & His Smokey Mountain Boys 2:43
10LISTENFreight Train Boogie / The Delmore Brothers 2:46
11LISTENSo Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed / Merle Travis 3:00
12LISTENSigned, Sealed and Delivered / Cowboy Copas 2:38
13LISTENI'll Hold You in My Heart (Till I Can Hold You in My Arms) / Eddy Arnold & His Tennessee Plowboys 2:44
14LISTENMove It on Over / Hank Williams 2:47
15LISTENNever Trust a Woman / The Cumberland Valley Boys 3:12
16LISTENShenandoah Waltz / Clyde Moody 2:47
17LISTENOakie Boogie / Jack Guthrie & His Oklahomans 2:36
18LISTENNew Pretty Blonde (New Jole Blon) / Moon Mullican & the Showboys 3:01
19LISTENRockin' Chair Money / Bill Carlisle 2:59
20LISTENThe Tramp on the Street / The Cumberland Mountain Folks 2:51
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Editorial Reviews

Germany's Bear Family is well known for its stellar box set reissues of country, rock, and rhythm & blues recordings, as well as for single titles by deserving if not necessarily remembered American artists. Their mastering, production, and packaging set the industry standard for excellence. The six-volume Dim Lights, Thick Smoke series was released on CD in December of 2008 and covered the years 1945-1950, a strange and wonderful time in country music history born from of the end of the War Department's restrictions on shellac and the end of the recording ban, all near the end of the second world war. These discs all contain either 27 or 28 tracks, and are lavishly annotated with historical essays and track by track annotation by the esteemed Colin Escott, and contain with photographs of performers and record sleeves where available. The third volume in this series covers the year 1947, and offers a portrait of a year rife with hillbilly boogie classics. The South and the Southwest must have been feeling heady in the post war years, because the music here -- even in the ballads -- reflects a sense of well being, fun, and even hedonism. The set opens with Tex Williams' nugget "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! That Cigarette!" Despite the fact that the Commander Cody version has transplanted it in popular culture memory, it doesn't touch the original for its stellar musicianship, dry-drawl delivery, and knee-slapping humor. It cooks as a transitional piece of Western swing to hillbilly boogie, and it's easy to hear rock & roll's roots in this music. Other harder-driven tunes are Maddox Brothers & Rose's "Milk Cow Boogie," Hank Williams' "Move It on Over," Jack Guthrie's "Oakie Boogie," and Merle Travis' "So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed." That said, there are a number of fine ballads in the set as well, such as Cowboy Copas' "Signed Sealed and Delivered," and Eddy Arnold's "I'll Hold You in My Heart 'Til I Can Hold You in My Arms." Another smoking number is the wild, raw, and outrageous "Keep Them Cold Icy Fingers off of Me," by Fairley Holden. The sound quality here is wonderfully warm, full, and present. This collection adds immeasurably to the series. Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

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