America's Most Colorful Hillbilly Band - Vol. 1 Artist: The Maddox Brothers and Rose Rose Maddox and her brothers, who ruled the West Coast country scene in the ‘40s and ‘50s, were also America’s most clattering hillbilly boogie band; with Rose singing in a near-bray, their country music approached sheer foolishness in its purest form. But it’s the kind of exuberant, irreverent foolishness any crowd can get into — and best of all, underneath the hilarity was some fiery, abandoned and daring picking. The instrumental "Water Baby Boogie" is as hot as any music in any genre of this era (1946-51), and their repertoire was wildly eclectic, taking in religious and traditional music as well as pop, novelties, blues and then-current country hits.

Moments from This Theater Artist: Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham Release Date: 1999 You know most of these songs in versions by everyone from the Box Tops ("Cry Like a Baby") to James Carr ("Dark End of the Street") and Aretha ("Do Right Woman, Do Right Man"). Now hear them done by their writers, Penn on guitar and Oldham on piano. The former proves to be a great backwoods singer, and they harmonize like brothers, which they sorta are. They personify that distinctly Southern musical paradox by being simultaneously intense and laid-back, or maybe just intensely laid-back; at any rate, this is both deeply passionate and seemingly carefree, a perfect soundtrack to lazy, languorous days. Haul Up Your Foot You Fool Artist: Mr. Peter's Boom And Chime Release Date: 1997 Backed by a four-piece Belizean band whose members play guitar, boom and chime — a bass drum struck on one side with a mallet (the boom) and on the other with something called a "drum sack" (the chime) — tumba (aka conga), the jawbone of an ass and an auto brake drum, Wilfrid Peters carries on the traditional polyrhythmic music of 19th-century mahogany camps in what used to be called British Honduras. He sings his often-bawdy brukdowns (including a customized version of Merle Haggard’s "Today I Started Loving You Again") in chipper, Creole-inflected pidgin English, and plays driving/droning accordion. It’s so infectious you’ll involuntarily haul up your own foot and start dancing. Remember Me Artist: Otis Redding Release Date: 1992 Sure, they dubbed it soul, but they might as well have called it "heart music." Did any performer ever display a bigger heart than Otis Redding? He can lift a party — any party, anytime, anywhere — the instant he opens his mouth to sing, whether it’s to sigh "I’ve Got Dreams to Remember," to admonish "Try a Little Tenderness" or to cry out for "Respect." And you haven’t fully experienced summer until you’ve heard the sound of "The Dock of the Bay" riding a balmy breeze to mingle with the smell and smoke of barbecue. Remember that. The Very Best of Jimmy Reed Artist: Jimmy Reed Release Date: 2003 Reed’s laconic '50s update of Delta blues seemed so simple that he’s likely the most widely-covered bluesman ever — but his timing, sound and mood proved so subtle and deceptive that nobody’s ever gotten it quite right (except possibly Charlie Rich). With his sweet, nasal singing set off by walking bass, sighing countrified harp and insistent boogie guitar, songs like "Big Boss Man," "Bright Lights, Big City" and "Baby What You Want Me To Do" may go down easy, but they never really go away; they’re like a part of the air they inhabit. Jimmy’s timeless music is not just agreeable, it’s downright irresistible.

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