The Sons of the Pioneers set the standard for cowboy music that remains in place more than a half-century after their heyday. The group (which Roy Rogers helped form) combined vocal and instrumental expertise with a sure-s... more »hootin' flair for finding matchless material, whether that meant adopting a traditional tune such as "Rye Whiskey" or generating original compositions. Early member Bob Nolan penned "Way Out West," which helped launch the outfit in the early '30s. It's on this sterling 16-song greatest-hits collection along with the enchanting "Hills of Old Wyomin'" and, of course, "Tumbling Tumbleweeds." Now that's white-hat Western music! Indeed, there may not be a better CD for finding out how the West was won ... with song. --Steven Stolder« less
The Sons of the Pioneers set the standard for cowboy music that remains in place more than a half-century after their heyday. The group (which Roy Rogers helped form) combined vocal and instrumental expertise with a sure-shootin' flair for finding matchless material, whether that meant adopting a traditional tune such as "Rye Whiskey" or generating original compositions. Early member Bob Nolan penned "Way Out West," which helped launch the outfit in the early '30s. It's on this sterling 16-song greatest-hits collection along with the enchanting "Hills of Old Wyomin'" and, of course, "Tumbling Tumbleweeds." Now that's white-hat Western music! Indeed, there may not be a better CD for finding out how the West was won ... with song. --Steven Stolder
While the songs are great the quality of the recordings is pretty dismal. Kind of hard to listen to which is a shame because we really love the music.
CD Reviews
The Real McCoy
02/11/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is, to me at least, the definitive "desert island" recording of the Sons of the Pioneers. Every track is good, their greatest songs are included, the CD is amply filled, and the sound is old ("authentic") without being unpleasant. Owning both the Hall of Fame disc and the Columbia Historic Edition provides a very good representation of this piece of Americana. If you want only one disc, this is it."
NOT JUST NOSTALGIA
MOVIE MAVEN | New York, NY USA | 04/09/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I found this CD hidden away in my car's glove compartment and pushed it into the CD player, thinking I'd get a nostalgic laugh. After all, when I was a kid, watching Roy Rogers movies on Saturday afternoons at the Fox or Oritani in Hackensack, it would be these same Sons of the Pioneers who backed Roy up, singing and playing their hearts out. The song over, Roy would disappear with Dale to apprehend a criminal or two and the Sons would just disappear til the next music cue.It surprised me how moving these songs and their performances really are. They are, for the most part, slow, sad songs about a very difficult life in the West: old age, loneliness and death are more than occasional subjects. First rate singers, the Pioneers are also wonderful instrumentalists, with arrangements that, at times, shockingly resemble those of Stephane Grappelli.The sound, unfortunately, on this CD is sub-standard. There are songs that actually sound as if they were recorded in someone's bathroom. But almost all is forgiven when the Pioneers harmonize on a tune as lovely as Bob Nolan's "Cool Water.""
I Wanted To Sing These!
Bookworm | Marietta, Georgia United States | 09/09/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"When I found this CD, my heart took a hitch! These songs, ones I've heard for too many years because my father told me about the Sons of the Pioneers, and never mind Roy Rogers! Dad loved this group, and I learned to love them too, sitting with dad on the back porch, the smoke from Dad's cigarettere curling up into the empty "up there," as we listened to the radio, or his old Sears-Robuck 33 & 1/3 stereo record-player. Dad's hoarse cigarette-roughened almost-tenor would chime in. And I'd sing with him, trying to sing harmony, and we would sing these songs. . .When I got this CD, the old harmonies were there! One could see one's self sitting there, about the campfire, singing these old ballads, remembering friends gone and trails to be ridden yet. . .and something more! Track 16, "Somebody Bigger Than You and I" was my father's favorite song. . .a Baptist church quartet discovered they had to become a quintent to sing it properly "
Great harmony always exhibited in works by the Sons!
"Recognized as a national treasure by the Smithsonian, the Sons of the Pioneers were founded by Roy Rogers, Bob Nolan, and Tim Spencer, three young men who only wanted to be on the radio. They managed to develop a unique harmonic style, copied coutless times by other performers. In so doing they and their successors have had a profound effect on country and western music and American music in general. It is a shame that their greatness goes largely unnoticed today. The Sons of the Pioneers still exists as a performing group; they operate out of Branson, Missouri.Steve Richie"