Puttin' On the Country Style

This awkward compilation mines the Lonnie Donegan catalog for numbers that could indeed be described as "country," but it seems to neglect the fact that it was often the composer credits, as opposed to the performances, that fall into that category. Certainly Donegan's own dalliance with country music, recording in Nashville during 1964, offers up only a brace of recordings ("Louisiana Man" and "There's a Big Wheel"), although a handful of others, most notably "Wedding Bells," date from his return to the U.K. and his fairly fruitless attempt to maintain the new style in the old country. In other words, his true country years were decidedly not among his finest hours, and this collection misleads if it even tries to suggest otherwise. For all that, though, it's a great collection of songs and a terrific gathering of deathless performances, and — though there's probably no need for any more Lonnie Donegan collections — this one at least required a little bit of thought.