From that day forward I always sought out Johnny Horton's records and later when my contemporaries scrambled to be the first to have the latest Beatles or Rolling Stones release, I delighted in the great and grand luck of finding a Horton single on Mercury in a dime store close-out bin for nine cents! Those were touchstone records for me then as they are now. Mostly though, I was drawn to the fellows voice who was singing it. I was pulled into that record, the sound, the drive, the click-clock of Bill Black's string bass. I was immediately taken back to 1956 when as a youngster I first became aware of a song on the radio called I'm A One Woman Man. I was in London working on a recording project when I received a note from Richard Weize asking if I would assemble this CD of Johnny Horton ballads. It's these overlooked treasures that make up this set and, with the exception of When It's Springtime In Alaska, none were released as A-sides while Meant So Little To You from 1954 remained unissued for 37 years. Very often the flip side of the record was where the heart felt ballad was hiding or maybe a few would turn up tucked into a long playing album. Record companies leaned toward tempo for the A-side of singles to attract air play. While he is much admired for the rocking up-tempo tunes and the mega hit Battle Of New Orleans, Johnny Horton is less remembered as the great ballad singer he was. His voice was big, infectious and friendly, bursting with charisma and personality. Horton covered that much musical geography because he could, he was a damn good singer. Johnny Horton recorded everything from barroom weepers and straight country to rockabilly and bona fide pop hits. From the strong Western influence of the early Abbott sides recorded in 19 in Los Angeles to post-Hank Williams Nashville at Mercury through the mid-1950s and finally with Columbia Records beginning in 1956. In ten years he'd gone from talent show contestant to country and pop singing star, recording a wide range of material that rode the crests of a rapidly changing music scene. That fatal car wreck ensured he'd be remembered as so many whose lives are cut short in their prime. There's no telling how far Johnny Horton would have gone or how he'd be thought about today had he not died in the small hours of November 5, 1960. Jewelcases / Trays / Protection jackets.