Amazon.comAlton and Rabon Delmore have the purest and most disarming sound in all of country music. Listening to these 18 tracks, you can't help but open up your soul. The Delmores possess a remarkable ability to combine happiness and misery, hope and despair. These 1930s recordings display the restlessness and uncertainty of the Depression-era South. One moment, they extol the virtues of trains, traveling, and the unknown future. The next moment they yearn for the old days, the home place, and the family. In between, they express the loneliness and depression brought on by this wanderlust. Rabon's crisp flat-picking was way ahead of its time, and the pair's expressive harmonies strike a nerve. Their compelling country boogie has influenced everyone from Doc Watson and Tony Rice to the Louvin Brothers and Hazel & Alice. --Marc Greilsamer