In a long and varied career that began on the Broadway stage and extended through some 85 western films in the 1930s and '40s, several trips onto the country and pop charts and an eventual entry into the Country Music Hall of Fame (he was actually the very first performer inducted into the hall),
Tex Ritter was in many ways an archetypal American performer, working off of the public's perception of him in all available mediums.
Ritter wasn't a particularly subtle singer, relying as much on dramatic presentation as he did on any talent for phrasing, and there was always something of the stage in his delivery, which makes him somewhat of an acquired taste. This brief set collects some of his folk-inflected early singles, including his signature "High Noon" and an interesting version of "The Boll Weevil," but in the end it is a little too thin to make a good introduction to
Ritter's work. ~ Steve Leggett