Webb!

AMG Review of Webb!

Stephen Cook
All Music Guide

After an incredible run of country hits through most of the '50s and early '60s, honky-tonker Webb Pierce began to slowly lose favor with the buying public. Nonetheless, he continued to record with respectable success for the next 20 years, having already insured his legendary status with those classic early sides. Better known in ways for his taste in one-of-a-kind swimming pools and convertibles, Pierce was still in his musical prime when this 1959 collection of classic honky tonk songs was taped. And while there are no smashes like "In the Jailhouse Now" and "There Stands the Glass," Webb! still delivers with renditions of the Ray Price hit "My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You," George Jones' "Life to Go," and the self-penned "Sittin' Alone." Pierce's nasally, high-toned voice is equally well-situated on his and Mel Tillis' ock & roll-tinged "Tupelo County Jail" and the Charlie Walker chart-topper "Pick Me Up on Your Way Down." Topped off with Owen Bradley's clean musical backing, Webb! is a rare gem from the days before Pierce and his honky tonk kind were squeezed out by crossover country's arrival on the scene.