This continues the strand of R&B and country collections associated with Acrobat’s highly popular “America’s Greatest Hits” series, this one focusing on the top R&B records in the US Billboard charts during 1950. This great value 101-track 4-CD anthology includes every record which peaked in the Billboard R&B Top 10 during that year, although for reasons of space we have not included three seasonal Christmas hits. It naturally features a host of well-known names like Louis Jordan, Johnny Otis, Jimmy Witherspoon, Nat King Cole, Ivory Joe Hunter, Dinah Washington, Wynonie Harris, Lightning Hopkins and Roy Brown, but also includes many unfamiliar names and records of which even enthusiasts of the genre may not be aware, and which will be welcome additions to their collections. It provides a fascinating snapshot of a genre that was emerging from the R&B orchestra and jump blues era of the late ‘40s and was seeing the development of the sounds that were already laying the groundwork for the rock ‘n’ roll explosion a few years later.
