The focus of this release is to track the evolution of the music in its first forty years as an art form, from the start of the 1920s, when it was raw, embryonic, and rural, to the early 1960s when the rise of the 'Nashville Sound' had resulted in mainstream Country music becoming more Pop and polished, where the oldtime rustic fiddles had been forced out by the shiny, lush string sections that had more in common with a Hollywood studio set than a dark mountain holler. 100 songs tracing the history of Country Music encompassing Hillbilly, Honky Tonk, Bluegrass, Western Swing, Cajun, the Nashville Sound, Western, saga songs and Trucking music. All of the finest exponents are featured within the 4 CDs. The 28 page illustrated booklet tells the story of this ever developing music. DISC ONE - Fiddlin' John Carson - The Old Log Cabin In The Lane / Uncle Dave Macon - Keep My Skillet Good And Greasy / Charlie Poole And The North Carolina Ramblers - White House Blues / Frank Hutchison - Worried Blues / Allen Brothers - Chattanooga Blues / Kelly Harrell - My Name Is John Johannah / Buell Kazee - The Butcher's Boy / Carter Family - Wildwood Flower / Darby & Tarlton - Gamblin' Jim / Grayson & Whitter - Omie Wise / Jimmie Rodgers - Blue Yodel (T For Texas) / Ernest V. Stoneman & His Dixie Mountaineers & - Sally Goodin / Joseph Falcon - Lafayette / Carolina Tar Heels - Rude And Rambling Man / Leake County Revelers - Mississippi Breakdown / Prince Albert Hunt's Texas Ramblers - Wake Up Jacob / Amadie Breaux - Ma Blonde Est Partie (Jolie Blonde) / Clarence Ashley - House Carpenter / Gid Tanner & His Skillet Lickers - Hawkins Rag / Patsy Montana & Prairie Ramblers - I Want To Be A Cowboy's Sweetheart / Milton Brown & His Musical Brownies - Down By The O-H-I-O / Bill Boyd & His Cowboy Ramblers - Barn Dance Rag / Roy Acuff - Great Speckle Bird / Hackberry Ramblers - Jolie Fille / Light Crust Doughboys - Pussy Pussy Pussy. DISC TWO - Cliff Bruner & His Boys - Truck Driver's Blues / Gene Autry - Back In The Saddle Again / The Rouse Brothers - Orange Blossom Special / Ernest Tubb - Walking The Floor Over You / Al Dexter & His Troopers - Pistol Packin' Mama / Johnny Bond - Divorce Me C.O.D. / Merle Travis - Sixteen Tons / Bill Monroe - Blue Moon Of Kentucky / Red Foley - Tennessee Saturday Night / Sons Of The Pioneers - Cigareets And Whuskey And Wild Wild Women / Tex Ritter - Cattle Call / Jimmy Wakely - I Love You So Much It Hurts Me / Delmore Brothers - Blues Stay Away From Me / Flatt & Scruggs - Foggy Mountain Breakdown / Hank Williams - I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry / Maddox Bros & Rose - Sally Let Your Bangs Hang Down / Tennessee Ernie Ford - Mule Train / Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys - Faded Love / Hank Snow - I'm Movin' On / Lefty Frizzell - If You've Got The Money I've Got The Time / Hank Thompson - The Wild Side Of Life / Webb Pierce - Wondering / Carl Smith - When You Feel Like You're In Love (Don't Just Stand There) / Kitty Wells - It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels / Skeets Mcdonald - Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes. DISC THREE - The Stanley Brothers - I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow / Hank Locklin - Let Me Be The One / Chet Atkins - Mister Sandman / Faron Young - Live Fast, Live Hard, Die Young / Johnny Cash - Fulsom Prison Blues / The Louvin Brothers - Knoxville Girl / Eddy Arnold - You Don't Know Me / Patsy Cline - Walkin' After Midnight / Sonny James - Young Love / Bobby Helms - Fraulein / Ferlin Husky - Gone / Jim Reeves - Four Walls / Jimmy C. Newman - A Fallen Star / Kitty Wells & Webb Pierce - Oh So Many Years / Marvin Rainwater - Gonna Find Me A Bluebird / Charlie Walker - Pick Me Up On Your Way Down / Don Gibson - Oh Lonesome Me / The Browns - Three Bells / Buck Owens - Under Your Spell Again / George Jones - White Lightning / Johnny Horton - When It's Springtime In Alaska (It's Forty Below) / Ray Price - Heartaches By The Number / Stonewall Jackson - Waterloo / Marty Robbins - El Paso / Bill Anderson - The Tips Of My Fingers. DISC FOUR - Brenda Lee - I'm Sorry / Floyd Cramer - Last Date / Skeeter Davis - Am I That Easy To Forget / Loretta Lynn - I'm A Honky Tonk Girl / Marion Worth - I Think I Know / Bob Moore - Mexico / Connie Hall - I'm As Lonely As Anyone Can Be / Hawkshaw Hawkins - I Can't Seem To Say Goodbye / Jimmy Dean - Big Bad John / Leroy Van Dyke - Walk On By / Porter Wagoner - Misery Loves Company / Roy Drusky - Another (Just Like Me) / Slim Whitman - The Old Spinning Wheel / Willie Nelson & Shirley Collie - Willingly / Billy Walker - Charlie's Shoes / Burl Ives - A Little Bitty Tear / Carl & Pearl Butler - Don’t Let Me Cross Over / Carl Belew - Hello Out There / Claude King - Wolverton Mountain / Dolly Parton - The Love You Gave / Ernest Ashworth - Everybody But Me / Glen Campbell - Long Black Limousine / Johnny Tillotson - It Keeps Right On A-Hurtin' / Skeeter Davis & Porter Wagoner - There's Always One (Who Loves You A Lot) / Willie Nelson - Touch Me.