With his warm, assuring vocals,
Red Foley brought class to a country genre that at times was too ragged and reckless for its own good in the 1930s and '40s, and if he didn't stretch boundaries, he didn't really need to, and ended up landing some 41 songs on the country charts between 1944 and 1959. This extensive four-disc, 100-song set has virtually everything a
Foley fan might ever need, including key songs like 1944's "Smoke on the Water," 1947's "New Jolie Blonde," 1948's "Tennessee Saturday Night" (although he was born in Kentucky,
Foley may have set a record for most songs recorded about the state of Tennessee), his signature song "Chattanooga Shoe Shine Boy" from 1950, and 1951's surprise gospel hit "(There'll Be) Peace in the Valley)." It's all here.