Jimmie Skinner - Collection 1947-62 (2021)

Jimmie Skinner was a country singer, guitarist and songwriter from Kentucky whose roots were in bluegrass music and who forged a successful career as a hit-making country artist. His chart career began in the 1940s as he performed in his sparse, down-home style and continued through to 1960, despite making very few compromises to the changing tastes and styles within the genre until his later sessions. He was also unusual in that alongside his performing career he ran a well-known retail and mail order music store in Cincinnati, Jimmie Skinner’s Music Center, doing regular radio broadcasts from the shop window. He recorded prolifically, and this 57-track 2-CD set comprises selected A & B sides from his releases on the Red Barn, Radio Artists, Capitol, Decca and Mercury labels during the 15-year span of this era, featuring at least one side of most of his releases in those years, and including duets with Connie Hall. It features all ten of his country hits, including the Top 20 entries “Tennessee Border”, “I Found My Girl in the USA”, “What Makes A Man Wander”, “Dark Hollow”, “John Wesley Hardin”, “Riverboat Gambler” and “Reasons To Live”. It represents a substantial cross-section of his output during the primary era of his career, and is an entertaining showcase for a highly distinctive artist.