The Rusty Draper Collection 1939-62

Rusty Draper was a country singer and guitarist who began his career in playing on country radio shows in the mid-West before becoming a radio announcer during the 1940s and finding a niche as a nightclub singer in California in the early ‘50s when he made his first television appearances, leading to a recording contract with Mercury as he made the transition into pure pop music, although he always retained some country roots. This excellent-value 60-track 2-CD set contains some examples of his early country recordings on different labels and under different names - with The Sons Of The Ozarks for Bluebird, as Rusty Draper & The Dreamers for Coast, and with Ozark Red for Cavalier , but mainly comprises selected A & B sides from his releases for Mercury over the first decade or so with the label, which represented the core of his chart career. It features his thirteen pop, country and UK chart entries from these years, including the Top 10 pop hits “No Help Wanted”, “Gambler’s Guitar”, “The Shifting, Whispering Sands”, and “Freight Train”. It includes collaborations with Patti Page, Lola Dee and Ralph Marterie. It’s a substantial selection of his work, which provides an excellent showcase for his extrovert vocal style.