Dick Curless - Hard, Hard Travelling Man - 1970-1973 - Bear Fami

This four-CD box set picks up where Bear Family's previous seven-disc collection, Tombstone Every Mile, left off. While the previous set covered Dick Curless' career from 1948 with the Trailblazers though his solo and big hit years in 1970. Hard, Hard Traveling Man begins with his label deal for Capitol in the '70s and continues through to them dropping him in 1973.

Bear Family Records. Release: 2000. Remastered.


Track List:

1. Pinch O' Powder
2. Big Wheel Cannonball
3. I Miss a Lot of Trains
4. Six Days on the Road
5. Tombstone Every Mile
6. Carter Boys
7. Hard Hard Traveling Man
8. Long Lonesome Highway
9. Drop Some Silver in the Jakebox
10. Truck Stop
11. Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad
12. Winter's Comin' on Again
13. Golden Girl
14. Drag 'Em Off the Interstate
15. Please Buy My Flowers
16. Juke Box Man
17. Leaving It All Behing
18. Rocky Top
19. Juke Box Man
20. Watermelon Man
21. Lonesome Road
22. Coastline Charlie
23. Waiting For a Train
24. Homing Pigeon
25. Come Sundown
26. Snap Your Fingers
27. Swingin' Preacher
28. Woman Don't Try to Sing My Song
29. I Gave up Getting Over You Today
30. Loser's Cocktail
31. Old Ramblin' Alabama Me
32. Sweeter Than the Honey
33. Hot Springs
34. Bully of the Town
35. Darby's Castle
36. I'll Be a Hero
37. Wait a Little Longer
38. Stonin' Around
39. Lay Your Hands on Me (And Heal Me)
40. January April and Me
41. Travelin' Light
42. You've Really Got a Hold on Me
43. China Nights (Shina No Yoru)
44. Best Is Yet to Come
45. (Drinkin' Beer and)
46. Chick Inspector
47. She Called Me Baby
48. For the Life of Me
49. Old Bob Burton
50. Last Blues Song
51. Born in Country Music
52. Room Full of Roses
53. Been There People
54. Country Music Man
55. Lazy Bones
56. Swingin Preacher
57. Country Soul
58. Get on Board My Wagon
59. Intro
60. Chick Inspector
61. Intro
62. Truck Stop
63. Intro
64. I've Come Awful Close
65. Intro
66. Lonesome Road
67. Intro
68. 15 Gears and 14 Wheels
69. Drag 'Em Off the Interstate
70. Big Wheel Cannonball
71. Intro
72. Sixty Minute Man
73. Intro
74. Evil Hearted Me
75. (I'm Gonna Move to) The Outskirts of Town) (False Start)
76. Interruption
77. (I'm Gonna Move to) The Outskirts of Town
78. Intro
79. (Drinkin' Beer and) Singing a Country Song
80. Cottage in the Pines
81. Down by the Riverside
82. Heart Talk
83. My Side of the Night
84. Then I'll Get Over You
85. Cupid's Arrow
86. When Dad Was Around
87. Rocky Mountain Queen
88. So Little and Lovely
89. Memories an Old Picture and a Ring
90. His Mountain
91. Nobody
92. Steel Rails
93. Steel Rails
94. In the Middle of a Tear Drop
95. Changin' Times
96. Remember Me
97. Remember Me

This four-CD box set picks up where Bear Family's previous seven-disc collection, Tombstone Every Mile, left off. While the previous set covered Dick Curless' career from 1948 with the Trailblazers though his solo and big hit years in 1970. Hard, Hard Traveling Man begins with his label deal for Capitol in the '70s and continues through to them dropping him in 1973. While Curless didn't score as big during those years, he still nailed a pair of Top 40 spots and recorded very powerful trucker and honky tonk anthems; the Maine native wasn't a bad ballad singer, either. A rugged traditionalist, Curless' brand of country faded by the time of the Outlaw movement, though he would have fit directly into their ranks. The big surprise here is the final disc, a collection of previously unissued sides that were demoed on acoustic guitar for the label and left in the vaults along with many alternate takes and mixes. It's a very intimate look at one of the more overlooked (and criminally so) figures in the golden era of the genre.