“Songs of Jimmie Rodgers” – Lefty Frizzell

Album: Songs of Jimmie Rodgers

Artist: Lefty Frizzell

Year: 1951

Genre: Country, Honky Tonk

Grade: A

It was a bold move for 23-year-old singer Lefty Frizzell to cover the Songs of Jimmie Rodgers for his debut album — akin to a rock band covering The Beatles or Elvis Presley. He immediately self-inserts himself as a country legend. But when you’re as talented as Frizzell, you can pull it off. He breathes new life into some of the best songs of the 1920s and ’30s and updates them for a new honky-tonkin’ audience.

It helps that Frizzell is a far better singer than Jimmie Rodgers ever was (not to say that Rodgers was a bad singer, just that Frizzell is one of the best country singers of all time). His croon is extremely smooth and pleasing to the ear, and it’s no wonder that the likes of Roy Orbison, Willie Nelson and George Strait were directly inspired. Lefty’s vocal polish provides the modern update that makes the tribute worthwhile: old classics from an exciting new voice.

Some of Frizzell’s covers actually come close to the originals, while the ones that are obviously untouchable — “Treasures Untold” and “My Rough and Rowdy Ways,” for two — are treated with such faithfulness and authenticity that simple homage is transcended into statement of artistic purpose.

Is Songs of Jimmie Rodgers the best Lefty Frizzell album? The best country album of 1951? The best covers album of all time?? The answers are: yes, surprisingly not, and quite possibly.

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Accolades

• Top 10 Albums of 1951 — #6