Sundazed Music Inc.
2003
Frettin' Fingers
About This Album
Here's the kind of gargantuan production that only Bear Family in Germany has usually undertaken for vintage American country artists: a three-CD set, encompassing 75 songs and nearly three hours of music recorded by guitar great Jimmy Bryant from 1950-1967. This is on Sundazed, however, and it's good to see an American label taking a chance on a major archival collection on a not-too-famous performer that by its nature is going to rule out casual buyers. Many listeners will be sated with a single-disc compilation of Bryant's work (particularly the tracks on which he collaborated with pedal steel guitar master Speedy West), and the wholly instrumental format might make this hard to listen to in one sitting even for committed fans. But Bryant's guitar is consistently inventive -- and unsurpassed in its sheer speed -- throughout these sides, making it worthwhile not just for specialist Bryant and country swing fans, but also for students of virtuoso guitar in general. The highlights of this package are, as you would expect, Bryant's 1950s Capitol collaborations with West, which take up about half the three CDs. These two brought out the best in each other, and if West might be a little better known due to the relatively exotic flavors of his flashy steel playing, Bryant was his equal for mind-bending fluidity.
Track List

Disc 1 (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17 and 18)

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Disc 2 (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17 and 18)

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Disc 3 (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,18 and 19)

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