Charlie Walker
is remembered for his 1958 hit
"Pick Me Up on Your Way Down,"
but he charted over two dozen hits in his long career that included stints with
Imperial
,
Decca
Columbia
Epic
RCA
, and
Capitol
.
Pick Me Up on Your Way Down
is a five-disc box set that collects
Walker
's complete recordings from his earliest, tentative efforts for
through the end of his tenure with
in the late '60s.
was a
honky-tonker
in the
Texas dancehall
tradition second only to
Ray Price
in his use of the shuffle beat, but he varied his approach enough so that a set of this length doesn't become tedious. His early recordings were sometimes sung uncertainly, but
improved with age to the point where the last recordings on this box set are some of the best.
's late-'60s efforts were surprisingly adventurous (including an incredible hard-rocking cover of
the Rolling Stones
'
"Honky Tonk Women"
) and much better than his declining fortunes on the charts would suggest. ~ Greg Adams