Home on the Range

Although Roy Rogers was one of the most famous singing cowboys of the movies, he was only a modest success as a recording artist, and the budget-priced Home on the Range compilation drawn from his releases as a solo singer and with the Sons of the Pioneers for RCA Victor Records between 1936 and 1947 demonstrates why. Rogers' tenor was not particularly distinctive, and most of his material was pedestrian. Hits such as "Cool Water" and his signature song, "Happy Trails," are missing from this set, though standards like "Don't Fence Me In" and the title song as well as the mid-'40s country hits "A Little White Cross on the Hill," "My Chickashay Girl," "Blue Shadows on the Trail," and "(There'll Never Be Another) Pecos Bill" (the last two with the Sons of the Pioneers) are included. This is hardly the definitive collection of Rogers' best recordings, but it does give a sense of his sound, and it is inexpensive.