Dorsey Burnette - The Rockabilly Years: The Singles & Albums Collection 1955-62 (2024)

Born in Memphis, Tenn., in 1932, Dorsey Burnette was the older brother of rock ‘n’ roll singer and pop star Johnny Burnette, and they shared an early career in the Rock ’N’ Roll Trio before they branched out into their respective solo careers, with Dorsey enjoying a number of hits in the pop and country charts, although overshadowed somewhat by his brother’s chart-topping achievements. In his later career during the 1970s, all his hits were in the country charts, but in the early years he was very much a rockabilly and rock ‘n’ roll specialist. This great-value 63-track 2-CD collection (records were often pretty short in this era) features the A & B sides of singles on the Von, Coral Abbott, Surf, Imperial, Era, Dot, Lama & Reprise labels from these years plus selected titles from his albums “Dorsey Burnette’s Tall Oak Tree” and “Dorsey Burnette Sings”. It includes his early recordings with his brother Johnny and Paul Burlison as The Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio, and features all his chart entries from this era, including the Top 30 hit “Tall Oak Tree”, along with “Big Rock Candy Mountain”, “Hey Little One”, “The Ghost Of Billy Maloo” and “The Feminine Touch”. He was a performer very much of his era and culture, and this is a substantial showcase for the rockabilly side of his music.