Buddha
2001
RCA Country Legends
About This Album
This release highlights one of the most noted keyboard influences in pop music -- Floyd Cramer. His laid-back and non-threatening demeanor garnered him a reputation as an MOR artist although the influence he had on rock & roll is also duly noted. This 16-track career retrospective presents many of Cramer's best-loved and remembered pieces in the highest sonic quality available on a domestic CD release. However, the collection does seem a bit less definitive considering that under half of the compact discs' maximum playing time -- 80 minutes -- is utilized on this package. Before Cramer became a solo artist, he spent his formidable years as a session pianist performing first on the Louisiana Hayride radio program, accompanying the likes of Webb Pierce, Jim Reeves, and even a fledgling Elvis Presley. After signing with RCA Records in Nashville, TN, the sides he cut for the label in the mid-to-late '50s and early '60s became international hits synonymous with the full-bodied timbre and laid-back style known as "the Nashville sound." Every track on this compilation reveals Cramer's ability to take the piano -- which was becoming increasingly replaced by the electric guitar in pop music -- to a new strata as a lead instrument.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 and 12)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.