AMG Review of Columbia Historic Edition

Bruce Eder
All Music Guide

This ten-song, low-mid-priced collection covers yet more Autry songs that aren't on the other budget Autry releases -- and, like them, includes only minimal annotation. Originally released by the Vocalion, Okeh, Banner, and Columbia labels between 1935-1944, this would be a chunk of an Autry best-of set, featuring his cover of Bob Nolan's "Tumbling Tumbleweeds," the gentle Western swing-styled "I'll Go Ridin' Down That Texas Trail," "Don't Fence Me In" (which is best-remembered as the title of a Roy Rogers B-western), the ravishingly romantic "Amapola" (which makes "South of the Border" seem tepid), and the previously unreleased romantic ballad "There's a New Moon Over My Shoulder," one of the catchiest, bounciest, most well-played songs in Autry's output. In the absence of a complete Gene Autry set from Bear Family (which would require at least eight CDs), it's worth springing for this collection, which was prepared with the assistance of the Country Music Foundation, along with the others.