VA - The World Is A Monster: Lonesome, Blue And Jump Jivin' Hillbillies From The Columbia Vault 1948-1958

The last time a comp of country nuggets knocked me off my feet like this one was when RPM put out the stunning Double Up & Catch Up: Hillbilly Bop’n’Boogie 1950-1958, back in 2004. That disc showcased insanely catchy tunes from the powerhouse country wing of Capitol Records, and made a convincing claim that rockabilly was more a punked-up form of hillbilly music with an rhythm and blues influence than a fusion of the two.

Omni’s similar turn scopes the Colombia catalogue for the hidden gems they have unearthed in their ongoing quest to dig up the best of vintage country music.  There are few tinkling pianos, and absolutely no lush strings and smooth crooning backing vocals here in this pre-Nashville Sound set. This is the time when fiddles, pedal steel and stand-up bass still formed that backbone of any hillbilly or honkytonk band, and this expertly selected collection generously puts forth one jaw-dropper after another.

Rockin’ dance numbers abound from The Country Boy’s instrumental “Bud’s Bounce” to The Maddox Brothers’ reliably belligerent party chug-a-lug “Ugly and Slouchy”. Baby sister Rose Maddox delivers a weepy waltz with “When the Sun Goes Down”, as does Freddie Hart on the gorgeous “Blue”. Elsewhere, we find deep twang and dissonance on the great Johnny Bond’s “All I Can Do Is Cry” and the cautionary anti-rambling ditty by Rocky Porter that provides this set with its name.

The esteemed Bear Family’s single-artist series Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight mines similar territory, while their ongoing Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music, a by-the-year history of country music from 1945 on (their just-released last 5 volumes bring us to 1960), is an invaluable resource for newcomers and collectors alike. But at 32 tracks—all remastered from the orginal tapes, many of which are making their digital debut—The World Is a Monster is a perfect one-stop shit-kicking country bonanza!