| 08/24/2000 (5 out of 5 stars) "If you're looking for basic down to earth versions of the Pioneers most popular songs this CD is for you. A delightful simplicity in the playing here breathes fresh life into songs we might have heard too many times. 'I'm An Old Cowhand' with Roy on lead vocal and fine fiddling by Hugh Farr, interestingly enough, has a 'One More Ride' style yodel harmony at the end, and is that Lloyd Perryman or Pat Brady slappin' that bass? Great Stuff! For a Pioneer nut like myself the spartan 'Tumbling Tumbleweeds' on this CD is worth the price of admission, and the haunting eerie mood of 'Blue Prairie' couldn't be improved upon. 'A Melody From The Sky' and 'Blue Bonnet Girl' are both tender and masterful, while the plaintive 'Empty Saddles' never sounded better. 'Over The Santa Fe Trail' is the anomaly here, it almost sounds like an experiment in weirdness, but the strange phrasing and off-key sound make it something of a conversation piece, I'm wondering if the recording might be off-speed. I think 'Cool Water' is one of the best songs ever written, maybe the definitive example of Bob Nolan's poetic genius, and this take is very nice, although I think I slightly prefer the version on 'The RCA Victor Years Vol. 1' (RCA CD (9744-2). According to an old friend of Bob Nolan's, 'Cool Water' was written by Bob back in the '30s, while he and his mule 'Dan' were walking the Mojave Desert on a trek from his cabin here in Big Bear. That story gives a wonderful vignette of Bob talking to his mule ("Keep'a movin' Dan, don't you listen to him Dan, he's a devil not a man, and he spreads the burnin' sand with water. Dan can you see that big green tree, where the water's runnin' free, and it's waitin' there for me and you."), as they trudged toward the cool wet shade of the Mojave Narrows almost 70 years ago. Because MCA chose not to include any notes with this release, the oddness of 'Santa Fe Trail', and somewhat uneven sound quality, I considered giving it a 4-star rating, but after many listenings, the overall content, and the sweet rarity of these selected versions begged 5 stars. A very nice collection!"