"I guess Warren Smith is mainly remembered for his rockabilly recordings at the famous Sun studio but all he ever wanted to do was to play country music and for a short period in his troubled life he got the chance. This Bear Family CD collects all his recordings made for the Liberty label in the 50s and 60s (and some more). It's a nice compilation of hardcore honky tonk music by a guy who could really sing his heart out. Some of my favorite tracks include the title song, "That's Why I Sing In A Honky Tonk", "Book Of Broken Hearts", and Harlan Howard's "Bad News Gets Around" and "I Don't Believe I'll Fall In Love Today". The titles speak for themselves, this is tear-in-my-beer-music with lots of steel guitar and fiddle. Unfortunately there are also some very well known standards thrown in - all in good versions - but they are nonetheless somewhat uninteresting. But any fan of George Jones, Vernon Oxford, Wynn Stewart or guys like that would most likely find this CD more than worthwile."
A Good Honky Tonk CD
Ramblin Rounder | New England | 03/24/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I'd never heard of Warren Smith until recently, I heard him singing "she likes the attention" and said man thats a great song. Then I heard "thats why I sing in a honky tonk" and "160lbs of hurt" I knew I had to get this CD. I was shocked to see these songs where recorded in the 60's theres not much Nashville Sound here folks, this is the real deal. For 20 bucks you get a real nice CD"