Search - Nat Stuckey :: Very Best

A Fine Artist Gets His Due

Paul W. Dennis | Winter Springs, FL USA | 04/28/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have never understood why Nat Stuckey didn't become a huge star. He was handsome, had an excellent baritone voice, was a talented songwriter and had great stage presence. Despite this, his success was marginal. His most famous songs, "Waitin' In Your Welfare Line" (Buck Owens - seven weeks at #1) and "Pop A Top" (a hit for both Jim Ed Brown and Alan Jackson)were hits for others . His own biggest hit, the #4 "Sweet Thang", was recorded on the Paula label and today is better remembered as a Loretta Lynn-Ernest Tubb duet. None of these three songs are on this collection.



This CD collects the best recordings of his 1968-1975 tenure with RCA. Several of the songs "She Wakes Me With A Kiss Every Morning*, "Only A Woman Like You" and "Is It Any Wonder That I Love You" were #1 hits in several regional markets but none of them cracked the top ten nationwide (finishing at 11,24 & 26 respectively, although "She Wakes Me..." hit #5 on Cashbox's charts). The biggest RCA hits were "Plastic Saddle" at #8 and "Sweet Thang and Cisco" at #9. Stuckey was adept at both slow ballads and uptempo numbers, serious songs and novelties ("Don't Pay The Ransom"). My favorite song on this collection is the wry "Joe and Mabel's 12th Street Bar and Grill" but all of the biggest RCA hits are here in excellent sound and there are no duds among the 16 recordings."

Underrated and underappreciated

DoWell | Jamestown, Ky United States | 03/01/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Nat Stuckey is an original. I can remember seeing him on one

or more of the old Ralph Emery TV shows in the seventies and

eighties. I didn't think much about him at the time, but have

since acquired some of his LPs and the two CDs he has now. The

first one, "Pop A Top," had some really great songs on it as does this one. I'm not really too much on the novelty songs,

but he did several of them. Nat and Connie Smith also did some great duets. "Young Love" is included on this CD. I would like to have seen more ballads on this collection, but it is

still a really good album and well worth the price. Thanks to

Ann Stuckey, Nat's wife, for her part in releasing this music."

Long Overdue

Jess | Coal Country, PA | 10/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Thanks to Koch Records for finally providing a decent collection of one of the finer "unsung heroes" of country Music writers. The 16 songs found here are from Nat's two decades of recording with RCA, and it is truly enjoyable. Included are "Cut Across Shorty" (a song made famous by Carl Smith), "Whiskey Whiskey", and a duet with Connie Smith "Young Love". Nat had a great voice, but for some reason, never really made it big. In any case, with this album, you have the chance to hear a great singer/songwriter in his prime. I strongly suggest that you also get "Pop A Top", an album which covers his later '70's sound."