was the last of a long line of players, and in many ways he was the most polished, playing steadier guitar than , the Texas bluesman he most resembles, and his cool, clear vocals carried his stories of romantically wounded ramblers out of the realm of cliche and into the territory of actual narrative, which is probably the only really modern thing about 's early recorded work. He worked off of the old forms and themes, but in adapting them to his own needs, he personalized them just enough to give them singularity. Thus which is presented here as part of this collection of 's earliest recorded sides for 's , draws from the lines and structure of the but in 's hands it becomes a steady narrative instead of a stock assemblage of old cliches, even though that's still really what it is. It's a pretty nifty trick, and had it down. This set from includes material recorded between 1948 and 1950, all of it featuring singing solo to his own acoustic or electric guitar accompaniment, and it is a true delight, with wonderful versions of the magnificent the aforementioned and 's own version of his main claim to immortality, which morphed over time into the standard 's smoothed-out rustic delivery gives everything a kind of internal coherence, and makes him seem less erratic than a player like , even as he worked similar territory. And like , ran into problems when he began working with small combos later in his career, due to the little rhythmic eccentricities in his playing. These early solo sides are really in his natural state, though, and make up what is arguably his best work. ~ Steve Leggett