That Travelin' Two-Beat / Sings the Great Country Hits (Collectors' Choice, 2001)

Over three years ago, when I began my other blog, The Vintage Bandstand, devoted to classic jazz and the crooners, the first post that I published was a review of two lesser-known Bing Crosby albums from the 1960s—That Travelin' Two-Beat and Bing Crosby Sings the Great Country Hits, both of them released originally in 1965 on Capitol Records and reissued as a two-fer by Collectors' Choice Music in 2001. The former, in which Bing was paired up with Rosemary Clooney, was, in a way, a continuation of Fancy Meeting You Here, an earlier and more satisfying effort by Bing and Rosie. The latter was one of Crosby's forays into country pop, a salute to the Nashville Sound that was extremely popular in the sixties, including songs by fine country tunesmiths like Don Gibson, Harlan Howard, and Willie Nelson. The CD has now been out of print for a while, but it's highly recommendable, and you can read my in-depth review of it here.

TRACKS: That Travelin' Two-Beat - That Travelin' Two-Beat / New Vienna Woods / Knees Up, Mother Brown / Roamin' in the Gloamin' / Adios Señorita / Come to the Mardi Gras / Hear That Band / The Daughter of Molly Malone / The Poor People of Paris / I Get Ideas / Ciao, Ciao, Bambina / That Travelin' Two-Beat (reprise). Sings the Great Country Hits - Oh, Lonesome Me / Heartaches by the Number / Four Walls / Crazy Arms / Bouquet of Roses / Wabash Cannon Ball / Wolverton Mountain / Hello Walls / A Little Bitty Tear / Jealous Heart / Still / Sunflower.

Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra with Rosemary Clooney